


Chance Encounters

by InnogenRenz



Series: Klaus and Finral AU [1]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Adult Language, Angst, Best Friends, Fluff, Gen, Headcanon, Misunderstandings, Only cause Klaus is 18, They become friends, Underage Drinking, a dash of angst, nosy friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 09:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 44,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20307406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnogenRenz/pseuds/InnogenRenz
Summary: Finral is forced to go to the capital for the day after Yami has some unfinished work, after striking out hard with the ladies, he goes to a new café. There he gets a surprising new friend, and a new secret to keep from the rest of the Black Bulls.Klaus was just trying to get some tea when another magic knight smacked him with a door. To his surprise, a friendship based on bragging about their squadmates quickly forms, and all of a sudden, Saturday tea times are a regular occurrence.This is so self-indulgent, I'm sorry.





	1. Warm Days and Hot Tea

**Author's Note:**

> So uh, yeah. I love Klaus and Finral and I feel like the squad moms would get along great. Also, there's that one fic about Finral, where he and Klaus are tea buddies and that made me go ham, so here this is. This was written at night in 2 hours, so this might not make a ton of sense. I might continue. Also this is set after the mixer, but before Nean.

Finral really hadn't expected this when he woke up that day. Asta yelling and Noelle stuttering and blushing? Sure. Yami using him as a pack mule? A given. But out of every possibility, he really hadn't considered this.

It was supposed to be a routine trip to the capital, Captain Yami had some business that he begrudgingly had to attend, and as Yami's designated ride, Finral was forced to come along. Ultimately Finral couldn't be too mad, Yami's meeting would take a few hours and that meant Finral had some time to kill, which would of course be used to flirt with some fine ladies. After Yami threatened to end his life -- in a very violent and terrifying way -- if he wasn't back at the designated time, he immediately scampered off to the more commercial areas of the capital. A hot spot for any sort of girl with money and looks, just Finrals type.

If Finral was being honest with himself, he didn't really enjoy the flirting as much as he wanted to. The only girl he ever really felt connected with was his younger brother's fiancé, which was just his luck. Finesse was the first person he met who... complimented him, who thought that he was _worth_ something. But just like everything else in his life, she was ultimately given to Langris.

He wasn't a part of the House of Vaude, not anymore, he didn't have to uphold any standard, he wasn't being forced into some stupid rivalry that he could never win, he could just have fun. Life was too short for boring problems like family honor, why not make the most of it. Flirt with girls, joke around and lazily use his magic, he was free after all, wasn't he?

Then why didn't it feel like it? Why did he feel like he was running away, like he was just trapping himself all over again? Finral quickly shook his head. Where did all _that_ come from, he thought. He pushed those thoughts down to the deepest part of his conscious being, he didn't need such troubling things on his mind.

He realized -- with relief because finally, a distraction -- that he had arrived at the nearest hub of commerce. The capital was still rebuilding after the attack, luckily with magic everything was repaired fairly quickly, especily public areas. It looked better, new paint jobs and buildings helped the people who were still scared after the attack on the capital, new shops had opened up as well, meaning more people were walking about as the day went on.

He gathered himself for a moment, put on a lazy smile and went off to flirt with the first girl he saw. She looked his age, and she had on a a nice dress, perfect, she met all his requirements. He mussed his hair, straightened his robe, and fixed his shirt. He took a breath and started walking towards her. Show time.

"Hey there, my name's Finral. Would you like me to escort you to your destination? It would be an honor to be in the presence of a beauty like yourself." Finral finished, giving her a half-lidded look.

She was surprised for a split second, but quickly after she masked it with a serious expression. She gave him an emphatic, "Fuck off.", and walked away. He couldn't say that he really didn't expect it.

He didn't have much luck the second time, or the third, or the fourth, fifth, sixth, so on and so on. Around his tenth rejection, he stopped and considered the events so far. He concluded that he was off his game today, and it would do no good to try anymore, at this rate, he'd run out of girls in the city before the hour was over.

Finral let out a weary sigh and he turned a corner, meandering around and trying to find something new, as he looked up he spotted an unfamiliar shop ahead. He squinted at the sign, and as he got closer he realized it was a new café. He hadn't heard about it yet and figured it was better than nothing.

It was new, judging by the brick work. It smelled warm and inviting and it didn't look like too many people were in the shop. The sign was freshly painted, Home's Taste, it read. Cheesy as it was, it looked comfortable and nice. The café seemed like a good enough place to relax, and a cup of coffee didn't sound bad to Finral, maybe today could be salvaged.

Finral noticed a well kept patio area, with tables and umbrellas. It was fenced in next to the café, obviously a part of the business. The day was nice and the weather was mild, maybe he could have a drink and a pastry outside, that sounded pretty good to him.

As he approached the shop, he could smell pastries and drinks, enticing him as he stepped ever closer. He got right to the door, and pushed it open right as another person was getting out of the café. Finral watched in horror as the door hit them, spilling their drink all over their magic... knight... uniform... SHIT. Finral recognized that uniform as the Golden Dawn regulation and his reaction went from SHIT to WHY ME, GOD?! in a matter of seconds.

"O-OH MY GOD, I-I'M SO SORRY, SIR. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I CAN BUY YOU A NEW ONE!" Finral heard himself say, almost hysterically. He wanted to chide himself for being so reactionary, but at the same time, this was the Golden Dawn, so who knows how they would react.

The figure seemed shocked by it, almost a little freaked out. They quickly composed themselves with a quiet cough and a quick glasses adjustment.

"There's really no need, it's simple. I wasn't looking where I was going, and that's that." He said, as he noticed the whole café staring at them. A waiter quickly stumbled out of his trance to get a towel. Klaus took notice of Finral's robe. A black bull..., he thought.

Finral almost let out an audible 'huh?', that... wasn't the reaction he was expecting at all, especially from someone who was a part of the Golden Dawn. He was expecting hellfire and permanent enslavement, he expected torture as his brother looked down and laughed. He was expecting an afrronted, irrational, and angry person, frankly, he expected someone just like his brother, not... a polite and well-adjusted individual. 

"Well... I still feel pretty bad, I ruined your uniform after all!" Finral said, tense but a bit more relaxed than before

The man looked at Finral, and considered his offer. It was obvious Finral felt bad, and he looked... scared, accepting his offer and being as polite as he could seemed the best way out of this situation, Klaus surmised. And he would get a free cup of tea out of it too.

"If you insist, Mr...?", Klaus trailed off, hoping to get the man's name. He was quickly handed a towel by the staff and he set to work cleaning himself up, trying to salvage some of his formerly pristine unfirom.

"Uh, Roulacase! Finral Roulacase, but Finral's just fine!" Finral managed to stammer out, still freaked out about hitting a member of the strongest squad in the Clover Kingdom, with a door.

Roulacase..., Klaus thought, that sounded awfully familiar. He could almost hear a voice saying it, dripping with venom and hatred, spitting it out like rotten food. He had heard it before, but from who...

It wasn't long before they were both sitting outside, at one of the patio tables. The silence was awkward and the tension was palpable, neither one was really looking at the other. Klaus was trying to finish his tea as quickly as possible, so he could end this miserable experience.

"So," Finral said, breaking the silence, "what's your name? I mean, you know mine, so it's only polite I ask yours." He was trying. Lord help him.

"Klaus Lunettes, of House Lunettes. I'm a member of the Golden Dawn, and a third-class intermediate magic knight." He paused to adjust his frames, Finral noticed it was a common habit of his. "You're a member of the Black Bulls, correct?"

"Oh, uh, yeah... I'm mainly just used for transportation, I really don't do much..." Finral trailed off. 

"Oh, so you have spatial magic? That's rare, especially for commoners," Klaus said without thinking, he noticed how the other man tensed up and quickly tried to back track. "Not that commoners aren't powerful, of course." He was pretty sure he made it worse.

Finral didn't feel the need to tell him that he was actually nobility, he didn't have a real reason too. Plus, that just seemed lame, swinging around a name he had cut himself off of seemed pretty pathetic, even for him. He nervously chuckled and the conversation was silent again.

"So... do you know Asta?" Klaus asked, desperately trying to make this experience less painful, and Asta seemed like a good conversation starter.

"Kinda hard not to when he aggressively decides he's your friend," Finral said, too relaxed. Wait, he thought, how does this guy know him? "and when he's so loud. He's always talking about training or his goals, or both at the same time. He was hurt recently but he's doing just fine now."

"Really? Well, I'm glad to see he's healing alright, the Eye of the Midnight Sun seem to be a brutal bunch." Klaus had been a bit worried about that for a while.

"Oh? You were there?" Finral wondered how terrifying it must've been, fighting so many undead, bloodthirsty, creatures, and the mages were so powerful and cruel.

"Yes, although I'm afraid I didn't do much, I was portaled away and when I came back... I tried to protect him but... he was taken away by that woman. I really was worried." And it would've been my fault if he died, Klaus mentally added on. But he was pretty sure Finral didn't want to listen to him gripe. He took a sip of his tea, it burned but he forced it down.

"Oh...," Finral said, unsure how to respond to his heartfelt answer. "Well, Mr. Lunettes, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Asta?" Finral was curious, the only friend of Asta's in the Golden Dawn he knew of was his childhood friend, Yuno.

"Just Klaus, please. And we were on a mission together, the one in the dungeon? It was me, two other members of my squad, Asta and two other Black Bulls. Although, I'm afraid I was rather unpleasant during it, I was quite rude and acted unbecoming of a magic knight." Klaus said solemnly, he wasn't quite sure why he was telling Finral this, he just seemed easy to talk to, like he would understand.

Finral remembered that one, about a week and a half ago, now that he thought about it, he remembered Asta excitedly talking about Yuno and his squadmates. It clicked.

"Wait. _You're_ the rude Four-Eyes he was talking about? The one who yelled at him, and then hugged him?" Finral was shocked to say the least. He hadn't really believed Asta's story until now. No way a member of the Golden Dawn was able to get their head unstuck out of their ass and apologize for their actions. It wasn't feasible!

Klaus looked ashamed and annoyed, he put his head in his hands and muttered something about creativity being equal to height and looked back at Finral. "I suppose I am."

"Well, you did apologize to him, so that's something." Finral said, considering that Klaus had opened up a bit, he decided that he could relax. Klaus didn't seem quite like his brother or the rest of the Golden Dawn for that matter.

"I suppose so. It opened my eyes, to say the least, as a Magic Knight I'm supposed to protect the kingdom, but how can I do that while hating most of it? It was only a little bit ago, but I feel so ashamed of my former thoughts and actions. I was ignoring so many people, just because of their class. I wasn't doing my duty." Klaus stated, a little less rigid than before.

"Sounds like Asta rubbed off on you, he has a habit of doing that to almost everyone he meets. He hasn't even been around very long, and the squad is more excited than ever." Finral chuckled, but secretly shocked at Klaus' blunt way of viewing his own actions.

"It's not very difficult when you're also around Yuno and Mimosa, Yuno is his childhood friend, and despite being so quiet and much more reserved, he really is quite similar to Asta. He's ambitious and inspired, but he's still a kid. Mimosa admires Asta already, she's trying to train harder now, to be able to fight. They really are quite a pair." Klaus said with a fond look on his face, it was obvious that he liked talking about his team's accomplishments.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what Asta did, but Luck is much more open. He doesn't just train, he tries to interact with us more... in his own way. He's become quite close with Magna, another member of the Black Bulls, they train and fight together almost all the time. And Noelle, she's trying much harder with her magic training. She still has an attitude, but she's started viewing us as her equals instead of insects. It's almost amazing what he does." Finral supplied back, they were both much more at ease now.

Finral flagged down a waitress and asked for a cup of coffee and a small pastry. He might as well do what he came here to do. Klaus seemed a bit thrown but he quickly adjusted as they both started talking about their squad members accomplishments.

As Klaus bragged about how much Yuno was advancing, and about Mimosa was leaning a new spell, Finral would give advice on schedules and getting them to listen. Then he would go on to brag about his squadmates and their improving abilities while Klaus listened and interjected with his own thoughts.

It was actually quite pleasant for both of them, to be able to talk to someone that understood them. They were laughing more freely than ever, it wasn't awkward or forced as before. But rather flowing and changing, it was a river, free and big, and they were caught up in it. Hours had passed before they knew it.

"And so I started working out-" Klaus said, but was abruptly cut off.

"WORKING OUT?! Man! Asta really did change you, and I'm so sorry that must suck a lot!" Finral said, wheezing.

"Well, it's not like I wasn't in shape before, I'm just trying harder now. Maybe you wouldn't strike out so much if you tried it." Klaus teased, laughing at his own joke.

"Yeah, no way, nothing could willingly make me go running. Take me to a cliff, and give me a choice of running or being pushed, and I'll jump off it myself!" Finral chortled back.

"It's working for me, in fact, that's what I was doing earlier, I was working out and I decided to take a break by walking though the capital when I found this place. I still had some of my pay, I mean, I'm not gonna give _that_ much to Yuno." Klaus said, calming down a bit.

"Okay, first, that's a lie and you know it, and second, I feel worse now. You just came back from grueling training, and THEN some nobody from the lowest squad hit you with a door and spilled your tea, man that sucks." Finral said, still laughing. Klaus looked at him carefully.

"You shouldn't be so critical of yourself, your magic is rare and you should work hard to hone it. It might not be built for attacking, but that just means you should focus on defending. After all, you are a part of a team that you care about, work hard to protect them!" Klaus finished off, trying to inspire Finral, who looked shocked that someone would actually compliment him.

"Uh, well, if you put it like that... I don't have much of a choice do I? Can't very well ignore the advice of a member of the Golden Dawn, after all!" Finral chuckled, smiling at him.

"If you want to think about it like that, then sure. But honestly ignore pretty much everyone else in my squad, they still haven't changed. They're powerful but care very little for people that aren't like them." Klaus finished sadly, realizing that you suck and that almost everyone around you sucks is a bit shocking and tiring after all.

"Don't I know it," Finral muttered, getting up from his chair, pushing it in, Klaus gave him an odd look. Quizzical and a bit concerned but he kept quiet, and put a few coins on the table for a tip when Finral realized he spent the last of his pay on the café.

"Consider it thanks for talking to me for so long, Finral, I know it must've been a bore." He said, half-joking.

"Now look who's being mean to themselves," Finral laughed as Klaus got up from his chair and looked noticeably grumpy at the stain on his uniform. It still hadn't quite come off yet.

"Perhaps we should do this again?" Klaus asked, a little hopeful. Klaus liked Yuno and Mimosa well enough, but he could stand talking to other people for a change. There was only so much one could take talking to 15-year-olds.

"How about the same day, next week? Yami has more work to catch up on here, so that means I have to go as well." Finral said, also eager to talk to someone who wouldn't try to kill him for more than five minutes.

After a nod from Klaus, they both started walking away. They walked down to the end of the street together, chatting a bit more before they were forced to go their separate ways. They gave each other a hand shake before stepping off down the street in opposite ways.

"See you then, Mr. Roulacase!" Klaus called back behind him, jokingly. Despite his demeanor, he did have a sense of humour. Sometimes.

"And you as well, Sir Lunettes!" Finral said, spinning around backwards and waving while still walking away from the establishment.

After Klaus was out of sight, Finral quickly portaled to Yami's location. As much fun as he had, he wasn't going to be late. He was still too young to die. After waiting a few minutes, Yami showed up, tired and angry, but not murderous. Today was a good day, Finral thought, today didn't suck and it didn't kick my ass, what more could I want?

"Hey Finral. I trust you kept yourself out of trouble." Yami said, haphazardly smoking a cigarette while Finral opened the portal back to the base.

Finral thought for a moment before answering. Yami, despite being almost friendly with the captain, didn't care for the Golden Dawn. And he would almost certainly make fun of Finral and tell the other members, who would then in turn make fun of him. Lying was easier, Yami couldn't kill him if he never found out. 

"Yes sir, I didn't do much, I just--"

"Who cares, I gotta take a shit." Yami cut him off, stepping through the portal before Finral could process what happened. He took a beat before hastily jumping through the portal himself.

The base was noisy as usual, people were fighting, over food, over who insulted who. But it was home for Finral. Home? He thought, yeah, it's home. He chuckled to himself as Noelle was yelling at Asta for doing something stupid, again. The day had exhausted him, so he went in and decided to just portal to his room before anyone could catch him.

"Yo, FinnnnNnnYy!~" Vanessa called out, and right as he was about to go to his room, he sighed to himself and walked over to her. She was on the couch with her bottle of wine, a normal night for her.

"Hey Vanessa. Sorry, but I have to go to bed. I'm really tired today." He said, trying to put emphasis on tired.

"Whaaat, you're not even gonna tell me 'bout the girls you saw? Waack!" She slurred, drunk as a skunk.

"Well, I didn't really do that today, so there's not much to talk about." He said, waving her off.

"Wellll, you talked to SOMEONE, you've got that look, ya know, the one that says 'I feel less cripplingly lonely than I usually do'!" She said, staring at him with almost scary perceptiveness despite her inebriated state.

"Ouch Vanessa, who knew such a beautiful maiden could wound so deep?" He said, dramatically placing his hand on his heart.

"No amount of dramatic posing is gonna help you, I'll find out!" She said, closing her eyes and putting the bottle of wine down.

Oh shit, Finral thought, she's serious! He needed to get away, now! She was stubborn when she wanted to be and if he stayed, he knew she'd get it out of him.

"Ah! Well, I told you it was nothing, good night Vanessa!" He said quickly and jerkily before portaling out of there as fast as he could. She glared at him, running away probably wasn't the best idea but it was the only one he had.

Shit, that probably made her more suspicious, he thought. He stepped into hid room and blew out a sigh, he kicked off his shoes and walked over to his bed and collapsed on it.

He really didn't want anyone to figure out that he had suddenly become best buds with a member of the Golden Dawn, he pulled a pillow on his head. It's not that he didn't trust his friends, he just... didn't trust them at all. They were fine and he cared about them, he just... wanted something for himself. Something that wasn't going to be ruined by his brother, or shared with others. It was stupidly selfish, he thought, but he wanted it.

He rolled over, and looked out the window. He had fun today, he smiled and rolled onto his back. He closed his eyes and fell quickly asleep, faster than he ever had before.


	2. Chapter 2: Tea & Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like this and I'm gonna keep on going with it. Also everything with Klaus' backstory I made up, I headcanoned it and went with 'Nobles are dicks that treat their family like shit'
> 
> Also I'm completely overestimating Klaus' importance to Yuno and Mimosa, but like, I want him to be important, he deserves it

Klaus was almost ready to leave the Golden Dawn base that day, it wasn't common knowledge, but Saturdays were more or less considered a day off. Unless fighting broke out or an invasion happened, most people were free to have fun for a little bit. He'd gotten up early that morning, hoping to leave before Yuno and Mimosa could catch him. He was planning on leaving them a note, just to let them know he hadn't been kidnapped or killed. But it was just his luck that they decided to get up before him for once.

Klaus had been, dare he say it, looking forward to the next time he could talk to the Black Bull. He couldn't quite believe it himself, he'd actually enjoyed someone else's company, despite being so different. He had realized that in the past, he'd been... uptight and rigid. But someone needed to be, you couldn't trust anything to someone who took everything so jovial like, that was the first lesson he'd learned as a noble. He had to uphold his family name, he had responsibilities, he couldn't afford to be a kid at any time, he had to be an example.

He decided against knocking on Mimosa's door, and just slipped the note under the door. It was simple, it read: _Good day Mimosa, before you start worrying, I've gone out for the day but I'll be back, -Klaus Lunettes_. He wondered if he should also put his rank after his name, he considered it but decided that it would just give Mimosa more ammo, she had taken up Asta's mantle in making fun of him. Not that he really minded, he just wished they would come up with more than 'Four-eyes'.

He'd been standing at Yuno's door, letter in hand, when the door opened and a confused Yuno was staring at Klaus, who was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the young boy. Klaus, quickly adjusting his glasses, handed Yuno the note.

"Sorry about waking you up, but I'm going out for today, and just wanted to reassure you and Mimosa that I was fine." Klaus explained as Yuno opened the note, it was just like Mimosa's but with Yuno's name instead.

Yuno tossed the note behind him, "Whatever, it's none of my business anyways." He muttered, disinterested and detached as always.

Klaus sighed, Yuno put on a front, but he could tell that Yuno appreciated the effort that he made to let him know that he was okay. Klaus couldn't say that he wasn't worried about Yuno sometimes, someone in the Golden Dawn was always angry about his existence, who it was would depend on the day. Some of these people were dangerous, they had power, not just magical but political. One day Yuno's attitude could get him in hot water, not even his talent could save him then.

"Well then, I'm off. If you see Mimosa, let her know that I'm alright." Klaus stepped away from Yuno's door before pausing for a second. "Don't get into too much trouble, alright?" He said, looking tiredly at the black haired boy.

"I'll be fine, worry about yourself." Yuno replied, going to close his door.

Klaus shook his head and walked away, Yuno was incorrigible sometimes. Sure, Klaus was only eighteen, three years older than Yuno, but he felt like Yuno was still a kid sometimes. He was petulant and would almost purposefully start fights, just to prove he could win. He was talented but troublesome, and despite all that, he had genuine care and feelings for others. That kid really did worry him too much.

As Klaus turned the corner, walking to the courtyard to find space for his transportation spell, he didn't notice Yuno opening his door and looking at him. Yuno was curious, and despite how much he said otherwise now, he'd called himself Klaus' friend in the dungeon and that hadn't been a lie.

Yuno couldn't deny that afterwards he'd been purposefully distant to Klaus and Mimosa, despite him so boldly declaring they were his friends and that he considered his friends family. It had bridged a distance that was there before, and it brought them closer together. But Yuno wasn't comfortable with it, the only person he'd ever been close with was Asta, so he tried to backpedal, despite both Klaus and Mimosa acting much more casual and caring.

Still, they'd persevered and would break through his shell sometimes, they'd get genuine emotion for a minute before Yuno would close back up. It had only been two and a half weeks since the dungeon, but they knew that everyone had been rapidly changing, personality and training wise. Earlier that week, they were called up to assist Asta and the others and the concern had been genuine.

Neither Mimosa or Yuno complained about being transported in Klaus' chariot, they wanted to conserve magic power. They were going to Nean, a small village where Asta had gone for some reason. They were contacted by headquarters to assist the Black Bulls in fighting the enemy, who apparently had ties to the Eye of the Midnight Sun.

Klaus was unusuallly quiet, most of the time he'd be chastising Yuno or Mimosa when they, rarely, were on his ship. He was stuck in concentration, worried about Asta and thinking of battle strategies, he was focused and it was to a level where his subordinates were concerned.

But by the time they got there, the battle was already over. They were still worried about Asta and the other Black Bulls, they had apparently been engaged with forces powerful enough that captains of other squads had gotten involved, and even then the enemy got away.

An understanding passed through all of them, none of them wanted to leave without making sure everyone was alright, despite the other forces backing out when they heard the battle was over, they stayed because they cared, even if most of them wouldn't admit it.

Mimosa used her healing magic to help Asta, and others as well, she didn't want to limit her capabilities. Yuno almost never left Asta's side, he didn't speak, but he also didn't move. Words weren't needed. Klaus, despite having no healing ability, tried his hardest to make sure everyone was okay, he worked well into the night when Mimosa and Yuno were sleeping. They were still young, and they needed sleep, they weren't trained to go without it like he was.

Klaus was a noble, that meant he was entitled and arrogant, but even then he worked hard. His family was notoriously intense, forcing their members to be studious and learn all they could, to bring the most honor. Part of it had been rigorous magic training, and how to optimize his time by sleeping less while still getting rest, it was harsh but by the end of it he took pride in himself and his lineage.

Klaus didn't think about his family much, besides the name, and why would he? From a young age he was told to work harder, to be an asset instead of a burden, to make the family better and more respected. His magic wasn't anything special, but it was versatile and could be used to both attack and defend. They liked that, and started training him to be a magic knight. He just thought families were like that, a cold presence that took care of him because he was a pawn. But he was lucky enough to be useful, so he took pride in that.

He really hadn't expected it when Yuno called him his friend, which he later learned was adjacent to Yuno calling him family. Klaus was confused, because not only had he insulted Yuno, he'd done nothing that he associated with family. Yuno was his subordinate, and despite being a peasant, Klaus had done his best to make sure Yuno would help the Golden Dawn become stronger.

As he slowly watched Yuno and Asta, Mimosa and Noelle, the Black Bulls, they were fighting to protect each other. He realized that his experience wasn't universal, families weren't supposed to be cold. They were warm and caring, they protected each other, they didn't strand them when they were useless.

Klaus had fully expected Yuno to leave him behind when Mars attacked them in the dungeon, because Klaus wasn't useful, he could only be used to accomplish a goal. Yuno coming back because he cared was a novel idea for Klaus, who's experience with family was cold and calculated politics. He wasn't a kid, he was a piece to move in the Nobles chess game of power. An actual family was unheard of and unfamiliar to Klaus.

Which, he supposed, is why he was so suddenly overprotective of his new friends. After the dungeon, he realized he'd been acting like his family had been to him, and he immediately apologized. Something he never got to hear. He also hugged them, which had happened very few times in his life. And if he was so nice because he wanted them to know he cared about them because he never got to know himself, then that was that.

Yuno still watched as Klaus flew away on his hideous silver chariot, that abomination disturbed Yuno to no end, although he never quite knew why. His thoughts about Nean were still bouncing around in his head when, with quiet determination, Yuno walked out of his room and knocked on Mimosa's door.

She opened it up, having just gotten ready for the day. She was holding the letter that had been put under the door, she had opened and read the note, but was still a bit confused. She was about to open her mouth when Yuno interrupted her.

"Klaus left for the day, he said he had things to do and not to worry about him." He conveyed the information to her very plainly. "He also told us to stay out of trouble." This part he said a little more fondly, a small smile appeared on his face.

Mimosa returned the smile, "I know, I read the note. I was just wondering where he went, he also left last week on the same day. I must admit, I'm a little curious..."

Yuno looked taken aback for a split second, but he masked it with disinterest and boredom. He hadn't known about that and had just assumed Klaus was in his room, reading or cleaning his glasses, something along those lines.

"Is that so...," Yuno muttered, he must admit that his curiosity was growing too. "Whatever, what he does with his free time doesn't matter to me."

"You probably didn't notice because you were so busy training, Klaus seemed determined to do something when he left, but when he came back," Mimosa paused, going for dramatic effect, "he was smiling Yuno!"

Yuno considered it for a moment, "That is a little strange..."

"AND," She continued, in a hushed voice, "there was a stain on his uniform!"

Yuno stared in shock, they both knew Klaus took great pride in being a member of the Golden Dawn, he would never let his uniform get dirty! "Are-are you sure, Mimosa?" He asked, he could barely mask his concern.

"Aww, you're concerned about Big Brother Klaus, huh?" Mimosa teased, along with teasing Klaus, she'd picked up prodding at Yuno. Calling Klaus his big brother seemed to be one of her favorites.

"You're the one who just pointed out he was acting odd!" Yuno retaliated, a little too quickly, Mimosa smiled.

"Sure, but that look says everything I need to know." Mimosa smiled, a little smug but still happy.

"Bug off," Yuno annoyedly muttered, "he's probably fine. It's nothing." He turned around and started walking back to his room, no longer in the mood to be teased.

"Sure, but don't tell me you're not curious too!" She called after him, giggling. She felt like a sister teasing her brother, even though her actual brother would never partake in something so normal and sibling like.

Mimosa closed her door and looked at the letter in her hand. She wouldn't find out today, but at some point, she would. She'd either get Klaus to tell her, or follow him. The question was, which one would be more fun.

* * *

Klaus had managed to get out of there without too much trouble, he was worried they'd be a little suspicious but if they asked, he could just tell them he was training. Which was technically the truth, he planned to train for a bit and then go back to _Home's Taste_ for some tea and conversation. Although they definitely didn't need to know the last part.

Training went quickly, he'd found a nearby small waterfall and meadow which was where spent a lot of his free time. He did the basics, running, pushups, sit ups, anything and everything. After about an hour and a half, he decided that he had done enough. It was almost time to meet up anyways.

He grabbed his shirt, after washing off in the waterfall and drying himself with a towel he brought with him, and put it on. He draped himself in his robes, and did his best to pat his hair dry, although it was a little messy and damp.

He conjured up his chariot again, and started heading over to the capital. With his chariot it would take 10 minutes to get there, he sighed and stared at the looming outline of the Clover Castle.

It was as impressive as ever, huge and almost surreal, and the city was brimming with mana. So dense and wild that it was no wonder the city was filled with lively and chaotic people. It always struck him with awe, no matter how old he was.

It didn't take long for him to get there at all, he set down on a large and empty stretch of road, a few blocks away from the café. He let the mana dissipate as his boots hit the pavement, his grimoire floated back into it's spot by his hip. He adjusted his glasses once more, and started walking towards the establishment.

He got a few odd stares, after all, a Golden Dawn member brought a lot of attention. He didn't flinch, he couldn't show weakness. He remembered the streets well enough to navigate them easily, as he turned the corner he saw a familiar sign and patio, he may have let the smallest smile slip onto his face.

He opened the door to the café, the woman behind the counter recognized him and smiled. He ordered his tea, he paused for a moment, and then ordered what Finral had last time. It was practical, he thought, I make more money anyways and it saves time, nothing else.

He gave the woman his money, and another server helped him carry the drinks and the scone out to patio table. After everything had been set up, Klaus sat down with a sigh. He waited a few moments, he wondered where Finral was, he wasn't too early, was he?

At that moment a portal opened up next to him and Finral jumped out, Klaus masked his surprise by pushing his glasses up, a bad habit he had since childhood, many a tutor tried to break it but they never could. Finral was out of breath and flushed, he looked like he'd been in a fight.

"Are you... okay?" Klaus gently asked, unsure of what to do.

"Yeah... just...," Finral kept pausing to take a breath, "Luck tried to, to... fight me before I... left." He collapsed onto his seat, "He even tried to jump me right before I went through the portal!" He then muttered something about Luck wanting revenge for an... eating... competition?

"Well, he's called the Cheery Berseker for a reason," Klaus sighed, and looked back at Finral. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I just need some coffee, guess I should go order-", Finral looked down to see coffee and his favorite scone already on the table. He looked back at Klaus, confusion evident on his face.

Klaus huffed, crossed his arms and looked away. "It saved time and your money, that's all."

"Oh, aren't you just a big softy?" Finral teased as Klaus looked almost offended about being called a 'softy'.

"I-I am not! It's practical!" Klaus insisted, Finral just sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, how practical was it to give Yuno that much money after he sent all his pay home?" Finral retorted, going straight to Klaus' weakspot. 

"Very! Heaven knows that he'd never buy himself anything from his own pay, it was necessary!" Klaus argued, he knew he was losing but was prepared to die on this hill.

"Okay, okay, I'll back off for now." Finral laughed, he had his fun but he thought it best to stop before Klaus got too embarrassed.

"Well, now that that's out of the way," Klaus muttered, his cheeks still tinged crimson. "How is your squad doing? We were in Nean but we only saw Asta." He asked, concerned about their health. 

"Oh, you were? I guess I didn't catch you, well... Gauche, you know, sister-complex?" Finral said, Klaus nodded having heard the stories.

"He got hurt, by the leader, who they call Licht. His magic power was... terrifyingly huge, he created swords of light in an instant! And that's not even mentioning his friends, they almost killed us! If it weren't for the captains... I don't think we would have made it, Yami was just about to be overpowered, and he was protecting us! I mean, I wasn't even really fighting and I wanted to jump ship!" Finral breathlessly rushed, a shrill spike of fear in his voice.

"That's horrible! Is your captain alright? I know Asta's fine, but what about Gauche, is he alright? How wounded did they get?" Klaus asked, he might not have met the men but with the way Finral described the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun and his equally powerful friends, he was scared for whoever was unlucky enough to fight them.

"Gauche was stabbed several times by his swords of light, luckily they were all in non-critical places, it was Sister Theresa we were all worried about, she almost died!" Finral said, he clenched his hands.

"I did hear about a nun who fought bravely, that must've been her," Klaus mumbled, "I did hear she survived."

"Yeah, luckily." Finral sighed, "And Yami's wounds were more superficial than anything serious." He sighed and gave himself a moment before talking agaim, "I'm sorry I didn't catch you in Nean, but man, were Yami and Gauche running me ragged! I thought I'd never be able to regain all my mana!"

"Oh, that's quite alright! I'm sure the others would have been confused if we started up a conversation." Klaus said, a tinge of humour in his voice.

"I guess," Finral dryly chuckled, "but you'll never believe what Gauche did before he went back into battle!"

"Oh?" Klaus asked, intrigued about what Finral had to say. It seemed like enough of a distraction, he could tell Finral didn't really want to talk about the enemies he saw that almost killed him and his teammates.

"He said please! I know, I know, not anything huge, but if you know Gauche, he NEVER says anything that polite!" Finral ranted, excited about his teammates growth, but still angry about the disrespect.

Finral regaled him with many stories about Gauche, how ultimately, he was a rude sister-complex creep but... he had still fought to protect more than just Marie. He had grown, just the slightest bit. Maybe it was Asta, maybe it was his sister. Or maybe it was a bit of both.

Finral also talked about how Asta fought, his anti-magic had come in quite handy for sneak attacks, and how he preferred to use his fists rather than anything deadly. "I know he has a strong moral code, Klaus, but he's gonna get seriously hurt if he thinks befriending the enemy or punching them is gonna solve everything!" Finral finished, putting his head in his hands.

Klaus sipped his tea, considering everything Finral just said, he could understand his frustration. Having someone so driven and dedicated was refreshing but certain aspects had to be getting old. Mostly his naivete, Asta was still young after all.

"Fists and kind words won't solve everything, you're right about that, Finral." Klaus murmured, Finral stuck his head back up, "But, telling him that won't work, he's going to have to learn for himself, Asta learns from experience, not just from words." He finished, while Finral sighed.

"I'm aware, but..." Finral said, "I'm scared about what kind of lesson it's going to have to be to make him realize it. He's still a kid! But he's stubborn more than anything."

"Oh, absolutely." Klaus said, pushing Finrals scone towards him, he hadn't even taken a bite out of it yet.

"Ugh, that's enough from me, how are Yuno and Mimosa?" Finral asked, finally bringing the scone to his mouth and taking a bite before downing it with a sip of strong coffee.

"Well, they're doing well, physically they're perfect, their training is paying off." Klaus said, although Finral could sense something the blue haired man wasn't telling him.

"But...?" Finral continued, hoping to get to the bottom of what concerned Klaus.

"Their attitudes, I feel as though they're too cavalier about everything!" Klaus finally said, with a rush of emotion. "The Golden Dawn isn't known for being a kind squad, and with Mimosa's ignorance and airheadedness and Yuno's passive aggressive attitude, they're going to end up making the wrong person angry! They could be hurt! You know it isn't unheard of for more devious knights to 'accidentally' hurt teammates they dislike in battle!" Klaus sighed, and fiddled with his glasses.

Finral noticed that Klaus touched his glasses whenever he got particularly stressed or excited, as much as Klaus tried to hide his feelings, the glasses gave them away. Such a large tell, Klaus was intense, and it only made sense his emotions were as well. He must have been taught to hide them, Finral thought, typical Noble nonsense.

"I understand your feelings, but," Finral sighed, "I think they can handle themselves, if what I've heard is anything to go by, they're more than capable."

"They're talented," Klaus said, "I'll give them that much, but they don't have a handle on what the other members are capable of, of what connections they have and just how much power they can hold over you. Or just how much they despise them..." On that last part, Klaus slumped in his seat.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Finral asked, concerned about his friend.

"Well, I'm sure you heard from Asta or Noelle, just how brutal that banquet, the one that the Wizard King invited us to, was. We were basically there to be ridiculed, it was ridiculous!" Klaus angrily sighed.

"And just what did they do?" Finral pushed, he hadn't heard about any of this, neither Noelle or Asta had told him anything about the banquet.

"Well, as soon as the ceremony was over, everyone took their time to insult Asta, for being too noisy, for being a commoner, the list goes on. Then, one of them insulted Yuno, and... I made an error in judgement and tried to correct my superior, to tell him that Yuno was indeed talented! Of course, that didn't end well for me, a few words and I was cut down..., and THEN they insulted Mimosa! Said she was weak for being taken down so fast in the dungeon, completely ignoring the fact she got ambushed but managed to heal herself enough to protect everyone later, without her not all of us would've gotten out of there alive!!" He finished, aggressively pushing on his frames.

"Let me guess, despite having been just talked down to by your superior, you tried to correct him again?" Finral asked, already figuring out that's what happened.

"Well... yes, actually." Klaus murmured, "But that look he gave me... it was chilling, I don't think he would hesitate to knock one of us down a peg if he had the chance." Klaus stopped for a moment before continuing, gathering his thoughts, "And then, one of Noelle's brothers... Solid? Yes, Solid, insulted her power before pouring water on her head! He did that to his own sister, and her siblings supported it! I might not know much about relationships, but even I know that's not what you do to a beloved sibling!" Klaus finished, he put his tea to his mouth and took a sip to calm down.

"Christ," Finral said, shocked and horrified at the actions of other, more powerful magic knights, the keepers of peace acting like entitled children didn't do much to inspire Finral.

"But, of course, Asta stood up for all of us. He did much more than I was capable of, I wish I could've been as bold. Maybe then I wouldn't have to worry so much..." Klaus said, reflecting on his feelings and actions.

"To be fair," Finral said, "if Asta had the chance to fist fight God, he would do it without hesitation."

"You know, you're probably right about that..." Klaus chuckled, sipping once more on his tea.

"Honestly, it's wonderful you're so concerned about your squad, but you have to be able to trust them, they can take care of themselves." Finral said lightly, trying to put it in a way that would get through to Klaus.

"I know, but still... I can't help it," Klaus muttered, slumping over the table in a very un-noble like manner. He still wasn't quite sure why he felt so relaxed in Finral's presence, but he did.

"Of course that doesn't mean you can't stealthily protect them," Finral whispered conspiratorially.

"Oh?" Klaus brought his head up, desperate to hear more.

"You can't confront them directly, they're teenagers, they'd automatically rebel." Finral relayed, he'd delt with the Black Bulls enough to know that much.

"Of course, I'm not that much of a fool, Yuno's too stubborn to accept advice and Mimosa would just call me a worrying Four-eyes." Klaus said, thinking about his team.

"Maybe just tell them to avoid specific people or places, it might not do much, but it's still something, but just say it's nothing major and more of a just-in-case thing, mention it off-handedly. For instance, when I'm dealing with Luck, and he wants to fight someone, I usually tell him that person is sick, or that they just threw up. He then avoids them, because it's concerning enough to avoid it, but not interesting enough to validate, does that make sense?" Finral said, thinking about how many times he kept the peace while Luck was trying to fight someone, it usually worked wonders and then nobody would need to be treated for wounds that day.

"I get it!" Klaus said, "Make it concerning enough to avoid it, but boring enough to dampen their curiosity, that makes sense..."

"It's not the most moral solution, but it works!" Finral said, laughing a bit.

"It's sneaky, but better than nothing." He replied, taking a long sip of his tea.

After that, they moved to more mild subjects, discussing magic training regimens. Klaus kept trying to convince Finral to start working out, but it ultimately ended with Finral declaring he'd rather die than do a pushup, to which they both started laughing at. They discussed more about their teammates, telling each other about parties and funny events that had happened.

"When Yuno's birthday comes up, I've decided to throw a party. I want to at least try and invite Asta, considering they share a birthday, but thats still a few months off." Klaus shared, he liked planning things months in advance, less room for error that way.

"Huh, yeah, whenever someone in the Black Bulls has a birthday, we throw a giant party! Maybe when Asta's birthday comes around, we should just combine parties?" Finral said, already thinking about how to accomplish it.

"Perhaps, although it'd require a bit of planning. But that certainly does sound nice, it'd be good for the both of them too." Klaus said.

"It would, Asta won't admit it but he misses his friend, we can all tell." Finral added.

They both chuckled, they had finished their drinks a while ago, but they were still here. They both wondered why, perhaps they were lonely, maybe they both wanted to talk to someone they could relate to. They both cared about their squads, but most of them were angry, traumatized, young teenagers. They liked that they could bounce ideas off each other and help in small ways, something grounding in an insane mindbreaking world.

"Shouldn't you be going soon," Klaus said, the sky seemed to have gone from a deep blue, to burning orange. It was sunset already? "Your captain's going to be angry if you're late."

"Oh man, you're right!" Finral yelped, practically jumping out of his seat "Thanks, Klaus, see you later!"

His grimoire floated in front of him, he thrust his hand out and a portal quickly appeared. He quickly paced towards it, only stopping to wave a goodbye to Klaus, and quickly went through it before Yami could kill him, Finral knew he was cutting it awfully close.

Klaus chuckled lightly as soon as the portal had dissipated, and got up as well, grabbing a few coins out of a small bag to put on the table, as he started to walk away from the café, which was starting to close up, a portal appeared next to him and Finral's head suddenly popped out. Klaus jumped backwards, shocked by Finral popping up out of nowhere.

"Finral!" Klaus said, surprised and annoyed that he'd been snuck up on so easily.

"Yeah, sorry, just, uh, same time next week, right?" Finral nervously chuckled, although a little bit proud of himself for getting the drop on Klaus. He looked ridiculous sticking his head out of the portal, looking expectantly at Klaus.

"What? Oh, of course." Klaus said, slightly confused and still a little surprised. He waved off-handedly at Finral, who looked a little relieved.

"Cool! Well, bye!" Finral said one more time before sticking his head back in the portal, not long after the portal itself disappeared. Klaus was still a bit dumbfounded by it's appearance and disappearance, but he quickly shook it off and started walking to somewhere large enough to cast his transportation spell.

Yuno and Mimosa are going to start wondering where I am, Klaus thought, the click of his boots on the tile keeping a constant beat. He knew that as much as they would deny it, they would start worrying about him if he stayed out too late. He scanned the area around him, until he found a large enough section of the street that suited his needs perfectly, he whipped out his grimoire and concentrated on getting back to the base.

* * *

Mimosa and Yuno had been training the whole day, working on defense and offense, breaking their limits and pushing their abilities to the max. Although, to be honest, their hearts weren't in it, hits were lazy, doing almost no damage, and Mimosas recovery magic wasn't as powerful as usual. They were frustrated and they didn't quite realize why. Even though, every once in a while, they would glance expectantly at some corner of the training area they were in, waiting for some critique or compliment and an adjustment of glasses.

Finally Yuno looked outside, the top of the setting sun was barely visible, he craned his head to look at Mimosa, "It's almost nighttime, it's probably okay to stop training." He said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"Yeah... you're probably right," Mimosa said, still exhausted even though she felt off today. She rolled her neck and stretched her arms, she was stiff and sore and it would be worse tomorrow.

Yuno nodded and they both put away their grimoires, glad to be done for the day. Tomorrow they'd probably be called on for some mission, they'd easily defeat the criminal(s) and go on living their lives. But still, they trained because even if they had talent, they wanted to work hard to hone it, to make it the best version of itself.

They easily chatted as they walked back to their rooms, the base was large enough that it took at least 15 minutes to walk from the training area to their rooms. Almost everybody else was still out, they noticed, except them.

They were about to go their separate ways when they heard someone walking down the hall, the click of the boots was familiar and they both turned towards the sound.

"Hello, Yuno, Mimosa, I trust you've been well," Klaus said, serious expression as usual, "how has your training been?"

"It was fine," answered Yuno, "where've you been all day?" Yuno seemed snappish, not completely unusual but still...

"Well, I told you I was going out, didn't I? I did some training by myself, I find I focus better that way." Klaus said, surprised at himself for thinking so quickly.

"If you say so." Yuno replied, to be honest, he was getting suspicious about Klaus. Training was good and well, but that didn't seem to be the whole truth.

"Well, Klaus, I'm glad that you're back!" Mimosa said cheerfully, her demeanor a direct contrast to Yuno's, "Although it's unlike you to be gone for a whole day, you're usually so responsible!" She chirped.

Nobody really knew if the things she said were rude accidentally or on purpose, but since he was giving Mimosa the benefit of the doubt, Klaus chose not to react too badly the last part.

"Well, it's good to be back Mimosa, and I'll try to get back earlier next time, sorry for any concern I may have caused." Klaus finished, staring at his subordinates, daring them to respond.

"Whatever, good night." Yuno responded, still a bit angry but not horribly so. He gave Klaus a pointed look before stepping into his room and slamming the door shut, shocking both Klaus and Mimosa.

"I guess that means I should go to bed as well," Mimosa sighed, "goodnight, Klaus." She said as she walked to her own door, opened it gently and closed it again, but not before giving Klaus a sad look and leaving him alone in the hallway.

Both his subordinates seemed distant and angry with him, no, not angry... disappointed? Oh absolutely not, thought Klaus, this isn't happening. His subordinates, who needed help to not get MURDERED by another squad member, were disappointed in HIM? Absolutely not, thought Klaus. They can't be mad that he didn't tell them where he was... can they?

Perhaps he hadn't lied as well as he thought he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh how the turn tables have tabled


	3. Chapter 3: Tasty Drinks and Nosy Teens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm addicted to writing this now, I might just turn this into a whole ass AU. I haven't gotten much feedback yet but I really enjoy writing it, so there's that. Also I'm pretty sure everyone is OOC, but it's fine. I am absolutely playing around with the canon timeline, I know that technically it should be the star festival or tournament arc but like it's okay.
> 
> I'm literally so sorry, this is self indulgent, but please understand I need something I enjoy doing during the school year. Also my Tumblr is @innogens-breadsticks, so uh, yeah.

It had been about three months since Klaus and Finral had started to regularly meet up and talk, truth be told, it was much needed for both of them. Their squads had been more pushy and annoying than usual, and they both desperately needed someone to talk to. Both of them adored their friends, but sometimes, they could be really damn annoying.

Vanessa had been bugging Finral for the past few months, trying to figure out who he'd been talking to. She'd also gotten half the Black Bulls involved, so being at the base was a never ending nightmare for Finral, who just wanted some peace and quiet.

And ever since that fateful day three months ago, Mimosa and Yuno had been growing ever distant from Klaus, who really hadn't expected one omission to have this much of an impact on his relationship with his subordinates. He hadn't told them anything because they were being ridiculous, was it really so bad that he have one or two things to himself? Either way because of Klaus' lie, Yuno had grown more annoyed and was now prone to little outbursts of anger when someone would try to talk to him.

Klaus was worried more than ever, Yuno had always had an attitude, but it wasn't anything terribly volatile, but now... he wouldn't even hesitate to insult the Wizard King himself. And although the Wizard King seemed forgiving, the higher nobles certainly wouldn't be so gracious.

A migraine was coming on, he felt the pressure behind his eyes and immediately adjusted his frames. The action itself was comforting despite it not actually helping his pain, a habit was a habit after all. He closed his eyes in frustration and sat down on his bed.

He was still in his room, unsure of what to say to Mimosa and Yuno, how could he tell them he was leaving without making them angrier. Yuno had grown more sullen and withdrawn while Mimosa had become colder and more formal, maybe he should just leave without telling them anything? If they were going to act like children, he'd treat them as such!

Klaus had given up on a solution that would benefit him at this point. He could just tell them, he supposed, but he was unsure if they'd actually believe him at this point, he'd been too stubborn and now they were convinced he had a terrible secret. He was sure they thought he was a traitor to the kingdom at this point, or maybe a criminal? Oh good heavens, he thought, those two wouldn't come up with such ridiculous ideas... would they?

He looked up at his ceiling, and then scanned his barebones room. He had very little sentimental possessions, a few books that he enjoyed and extra glasses and that was all. Even his clothes were plain, he almost always wore his uniform and when he wasn't he had a plain blue shirt and white trousers, pretty reminiscent of his uniform. The Golden Dawn was his life after all.

He stood up and steeled himself, they were children and he was their superior, they had no right to stop him from doing as he pleased. He got up and walked out of the room before stopping, he glanced over at his bookshelf, perhaps...

After a few seconds of thinking, he sighed and trudged over to his shelf, scanning the spines of his books, looking for the perfect one. I really am a softy, he thought as he grabbed the book he was looking for, he hid it under his robe as he walked to the door to leave his room.

He hesitated for the briefest moment before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway, his back straight and his head high.

He briefly glanced up and down the hall, looking for any sign of his younger squadmates. They weren't there like they usually were, he blew out a sigh of relief. He hadn't heard about any missions being assigned to him today, so he should be free to do what he wanted. He walked down the hall and continued on his way to the courtyard, heart beating a little faster anytime he heard a voice.

He finally made it, he thought, as he turned and walked into the grassy space. He had grabbed his grimoire and was about to summon his chariot when he heard a small shuffling noise, trailing him. He whipped around, his magic ready for battle.

There was nothing there, no person or animal, and he couldn't feel any mana either. Although that'd never been his best attribute, he had a decent enough grasp on it to sense any big magic. He looked around for a few more seconds, waiting for an enemy strike. He sighed, it'd been nothing afterall.

As he went back to his transportation spell, he failed to notice the faintest breath of relief coming from behind a pillar. A nervous Mimosa was standing behind it, she couldn't believe she'd almost already been caught, she hadn't even followed him a good 20 minutes!

Yuno stood behind the pillar next to her, he was much more composed and quiet. He had manipulated the mana in the room to mask theirs, it didn't hide it completely, just made it feel more like natural part of the environment. Anyone who could expertly sense mana would immediately notice something was off, but Yuno knew that mana sensing was Klaus' main weak point.

As Klaus boarded his steel vessel and started his journey to training, Yuno and Mimosa slowly came out from behind their hiding places. After a good glance and a mana check, they confirmed their senior was no longer in the vicinity. They met together in the middle of the courtyard, discussing their plan of action.

"We're really going to do this?" Yuno said, he crossed his arms and focused his gaze away from Mimosa.

"Of course we are!" Mimosa replied, getting frustrated with her teammate. She swore that Yuno could be worse than Klaus sometimes, sure, Klaus pretended his caring and empathy was logic and reason, but at least he acted like it was there. Yuno just buried his emotions, trying to seal them all with cool demeanor.

"It just seems pretty lame," Yuno continued, "following him and all." He shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Don't lie to me, Yuno!" Mimosa angrily whispered, she could feel her patience begin to slip, "You've been wondering too! You're worried!"

"I'm not!" Yuno responded quickly, angry at Mimosa for even insinuating he had empathy for others.

"Fine!" Mimosa gave up, she searched her mind for an excuse and came up with an almost perfect one, "But... but what if he's a traitor, Yuno?" She asked with masked innocence, phrasing the question in a way that would stick in Yuno's mind.

"Well...," Yuno said, thinking carefully, "I'd only be doing my duty for the Clover Kingdom."

"Of course! It only makes sense that we want to investigate all possible leads, especially since anyone could be a traitor now!" Mimosa replied, feeding his idea. She knew it was underhanded but she couldn't do this without him, she doubted she had the skills necessary for a covert operation.

"Shouldn't we be going then? He's getting away." Yuno muttered, putting his hand out in front of him and creating his own ride with wind magic.

Mimosa's eye twitched and she had to remind herself that she couldn't strangle Yuno, even though she wanted to. Really, really, _really_ wanted to.

She let out and a sigh and collected herself, forcing herself into her usual cheerful mood. She hopped on to Yuno's vessel and clapped her hands together, excited for her first, albeit non-official, covert mission. She was sure that this would be good practice.

"Well come on, Yuno, let's go!" She called, gesturing for him to start moving their ride. He sighed and looked blankly at her, she was still waving when he looked back to the front. With a quick gesture, they were flying.

Don't worry, Klaus, she thought, we'll find a way to help you out. She looked at the horizon and smiled, she could tell, today would be a wonderful day. 

* * *

Finral just wanted one good day. ONE. GOOD. DAY. Was that too much to ask the universe? Apparently so! He groaned, his head in his hands as some of his so-called friends surrounded him. He was sitting on one of the couches in the common area, across from Vanessa who'd decided to get a head start on cocktail hour. 

"Come on, Finral! It's just gonna be a few hours!" Asta pleaded, on his knees and his hands clasped together.

"And I said NOT TODAY!" Finral yelled back for about the 10th time that morning, he could feel his life being leached from him and being given to the over-excited short brat.

"You're really going to disobey a royal, insect?" Noelle hmphed, tossing her hair in a disgusted manner.

"Please, Finral, I won't even fight anyone!" Luck said, an obvious lie judging by the wider-than-usual smile on his face.

And just when he'd gotten better, Finral groaned in his head. He pried his hands off of his head and looked at the ceiling, he could still feel them there, waiting. Like a pack of hyenas, he thought, he briefly entertained the idea of portaling them straight to the beasts, see if they'd ever ask anything of him again. He sighed, he was way too much of a pushover to do it.

"Come on, we just wanna visit the capital! It's not a big deal, you go all the time!" Asta whined, his voice echoing throughout the room.

"Yeah, but I'm busy today! So knock it off!" Finral said, his eye twitching as he did.

"Busy? Busy with what?!" Asta yelled, throwing his hands around in a wild manner, "You never do anything except flirt with girls!"

"If you're gonna treat me like that, why should I bring you anywhere?!" Finral said, jumping up from his position, offended by Asta's -- very accurate -- statements.

"Ooo, you're gonna go see that _secret someone_, aren't you?" Vanessa called over, still lucid despite the many glasses of wine she'd had that day.

"Shut up, Vanessa! It's not your problem!" Finral said, yelling over Asta to talk to the pink-haired witch.

"Don't deny it! You got 'er a gift 'n all that!" She half-mumbled, gesturing lazily to the small box on the table that Finral had placed there.

"Are you serious," Asta groaned, "you don't wanna go because you have a DATE?!" He pointed accusingly at the man in question, cursing Finral's womanizing ways.

"I-IT'S NOT A DATE," Finral yelled, waving his arms around in a flustered manner, "AND IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS ANYWAYS!" He had failed to convince anyone.

"Aww, look it, he's flustered and everything!" Vanessa cooed, teasing him more. She tilted back and brought another glass of wine to her lips, she took a big gulp and set it back down.

"Finral, please!" Asta begged, once more. "It'll only take a minute, just portal us there and we'll be back in the same spot in exactly 3 hours!"

Finral sighed, slumping down on the couch once more, after a few moments of thought he had decided. "Fine. But exactly three hours! If you're late I'm leaving you there!"

"Awesome!" Asta yelled, pumping his fist into the air and jumping up! He turned and around and high-fived Noelle, who looked a little too excited for a trip to the capital she'd lived in her whole life. Luck cheered, throwing his hands up in air like a toddler. Isn't he the same age as Klaus, Finral thought, wondering how two people the same age could be so wildly different in maturity levels. Although it's probably the trauma, he thought.

"I hate you all." Finral muttered, exhausted by his squadmates already. He rubbed his temples, he would be so damn lucky if he didn't have a splitting headache by the end of this conversation.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Asta cheered, waving his arms wildly. He and Luck seemed to be feeding off of each other's energy for the day, both bouncing off each other and building it up more and more.

"Jeez, calm down you two," Finral mumbled, "just wait a sec, okay?" He stood up and put his right arm across his body, and curled the left one around it. He stretched like this, and switched sides, a few times. He rolled his neck, wincing at every crack, and collected himself.

"Are you finally ready? I wanna go!" Asta cried, hopping from foot to foot. Noelle smacked his shoulder, displeased with his surge in impatience.

"Stop it, Dorksta, he's gathering his magic power!" Noelle chided, she stood with her hands on her hips, frown evident on her face. Asta rubbed his shoulder a little shamefully, despite her light frame, Noelle really packed a punch.

"Oh, right," Asta muttered, "sorry, Finral!" Asta sometimes forgot his teammates weren't quite like him, as long as he didn't push himself too hard or go into his black form, his anti-magic didn't take too great a strain on his body. It also didn't hurt that he was ripped and trained more often than not.

"Yeah, Asta," Finral sighed, "I know you are." He closed his eyes in defeat once more before sticking his hand in front of him and conjuring up some mana for a spell.

The portal appeared in front of them, a direct path to a popular market place in the capital. It was a few miles away from where Finral was planning on going, and they'd be more than distracted for three hours, so it worked out alright. Finral waved as Asta and Noelle, stepped through, quickly followed by Luck, who zapped Finral. He wasn't sure if it was an accident or on purpose, frankly, he'd just like to give his friend the benefit of the doubt.

"Those kids are gonna kill me." Finral muttered as he closed up the portal, still planning to hang around for another 10 minutes before he left for the capital. He practically collapsed on the sofa and closed his eyes, trying not to sleep but desperately needing it. After a few minutes, he unintentionally started drifting off.

Vanessa stopped her drinking, and took a moment to look at Finral. It wouldn't be wrong to say that they were close friends, when she was sober, she was often like Finral, the only competent and rational member of the Black Bulls. They liked to talk sometimes, they didn't really like discussing their pasts so they'd usually make do by chatting about the most recent missions, or how long Captain Yami's sword would make it before he broke it.

She chuckled softly, it was too quiet for Finral to hear it so he didn't react. She was happy that he'd found someone, Finral had always struck her as being incredibly lonely despite his cheery demeanor. It was obvious that the girls and the flirting were simply ways of coping with it, not that she was one to talk. She swirled her bottle, watching tiny bubbles of the red liquid rise to the surface and pop, the air rejoining it's original form.

She smiled genuinely, a brief and fleeting thing, and then suddenly put down her bottle hard enough to startle Finral. He suddenly jumped up, his eyes were wide open and he looked like someone had just threatened to end his life in a horrific manner, which wasn't entirely uncommon. He looked around in a panicked manner for a few seconds before his eyes settled on Vanessa.

"Wait, how long have I-" Finral started, suddenly concerned about how long he'd been sleeping, he hoped he wasn't late.

"Only a few minutes," Vanessa shrugged, putting on a facade of innocence. "sorry I woke you."

"Oh thank god," Finral mumbled, relieved. He was rubbing his head awkwardly, when he stopped and looked up curiously at Vanessa. Did she-, no, he stopped himself, it was probably best not to question it. Vanessa worked in mysterious ways.

"Well, lover boy, best hurry off before you make her mad..." Vanessa sing-songed, off key and suddenly inebriated once more. She threw herself back, smacking the couch and spilling some of her wine.

Finral groaned but didn't respond, as long as Vanessa wasn't pushing it, he'd let her think whatever. He looked at her, half-naked and drunk off her ass, but still wicked sharp and observant as hell. Vanessa was a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be, and it was lucky for the world she rarely felt the need to do so.

"Yeah, yeah," Finral lazily replied, his voice still full of sleep. "I'll get going."

He moved and grabbed the small box on the coffee table, shoving it into a big pocket. He raised his arms above his head and stretched, after doing so he felt a little better than before and sighed. He raised his hand in front of him, it was almost second nature, and conjured up a direct portal to _Home's Taste_.

He turned around and waved goodbye to Vanessa before stepping through, the pink-haired witch watched carefully as he did, curious but respectful. Finral would tell her when he was ready, she thought. The portal light disappeared and so did Finral, she smirked and took another swig of her cheap wine.

He strolled out on the other side, after adjusting to the bright light from the sun, he looked around until he found who he was looking for. Finral was right on time. Klaus was already at the table, with his tea and Finral's coffee and scone. Finral waved and Klaus tiredly waved back, he started walking across the street to where the café was, careful to avoid running into anyone.

As soon as he reached the entrance the wait staff greeted him with friendly enthusiasm, he had to go through the restaurant to go to the patio. He started doing this after the owner asked him not to teleport straight to that table. He'd done that 4 weeks earlier and ended up crashing a date, he tried his best to apologize, but having a magic knight suddenly appear next to you apparently scared some people.

He jogged through the small space, greeting the servers until he finally go to the patio. He walked to the rest of the way to the table, careful not to bump into the other patrons who had gotten used to the weekly appearance of the two magic knights.

He sat down and immediately took a big gulp of his coffee, it even had his usual 3 sugars in it. After he was done, he looked back up at Klaus, who had been watching with a concerned look the entire time.

"Is everything... alright?" He said, a little surprised that Finral was able to drink so much so fast.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just... tired, it's been hard, y'know?" Finral said, exhaustion evident in his voice. He smiled weakly at Klaus, who just grew more concerned with every passing second.

"What's wrong?" Klaus said gently, he reached forward to touch Finral's arm, trying to comfort him. "Is it about the underwater temple?" He asked, his brow creased with concern.

Finral barely nodded, he was so tired he could barely stay awake, but he forced himself to take another sip of his coffee. It was almost gone already, he noticed sadly. He was very much so looking forward to a relaxing cup of coffee.

Klaus noticed his longing look towards the almost empty cup, and waved a server over to order another. He reached into his robe and pulled out his small bag of coins, he grabbed a few and pressed them into the servers hands, gesturing to the coffee. The server nodded and walked off to get a pot, leaving the two alone once more.

"You didn't have to, I feel bad enough that you already pay every time." Finral dryly chuckled, forcing a small smile onto his face. "I mean, I don't even do anything anyways-"

"That's enough!" Klaus said sternly, his voice overpowering Finral's, "You are a powerful member of the magic knights, and this kind of talk will not be tolerated!" He finished by standing up and slamming his hands on the table to punctuate the last word of his sentence.

Klaus was still looking at Finral when he heard a cough behind him and saw the server standing there with a pot of coffee. He glanced around and noticed a majority of the shop had stopped their own activities and were staring at them. He nervously coughed and quickly sat back down while the server poured another cup for Finral.

"A-anyways," Klaus continued, his voice much more calm and level than it just was. "what about the underwater temple?" He asked, still curious.

Finral, albeit still a little shocked about the other man's outburst, continued. "Well, I, uh... just mean that... I haven't been sleeping well since then, and then the Witches Forrest... it's been almost non-stop missions and life-threatening problems..."

Klaus nodded, remembering their previous meetings. Even when Finral had been away on missions, he still found time every Saturday to talk with Klaus. Finral would give him updates on their missions, and Klaus would try his best to give advice, but what could he really do... He couldn't even take down a Diamond Kingdom mage, how could he help Finral train Noelle or fix Asta's arms? But that hadn't even mattered, the Black Bulls -- as usual -- found a way to overcome it themselves. Klaus could admit he admired their tenacity and stubbornness.

"So it's nightmares, is it?" Klaus muttered, his hand reached up to touch his chin, he was in obvious thought.

"I wouldn't really say nightmares..." Finral muttered, picking at his scone, "I just... don't want to sleep sometimes." He said.

Klaus quickly realized that Finral would never admit that it was, in fact, nightmares. He thought about it for a second, Finral had been shoved into a difficult and terrifying fights, he'd been forced to step up, his friends lives had depended on it. He was out of his depth and was forced to adjust, it only made sense that there were consequences because of it. Finral had been terrified, Klaus could tell that much, he took on enemies that he could only dream of and came out on top. But not without his scars.

"Finral," Klaus softly said, "it's alright to ask for help, you know that, right?" He looked at him carefully, studying him.

"Of course I do!" Finral deflected with a laugh, "I ask for it all the time, I'd die without it!" He stopped to take a drink from his cup of fresh coffee.

Klaus almost audibly groaned, as much as he himself would deflect any emotional talks, this was a different level of denial. "What I meant," Klaus took a deep sigh and prepared himself, "is that I care about you and your well-being, I am here if you want to... talk."

Finral stared at the table, he was frozen with what seemed like shock. He'd never really heard anyone state their feelings so bluntly, well, besides Asta, but that wasn't the point. It was obvious Klaus was uncomfortable with such an emotional statement, but he did it because of... him? Finral cleared his throat and looked away from the table.

"Thanks Klaus," he said, fiddling with his cup, "it does mean a lot, but really I'm fine!" He chuckled, putting an easy-going look on his face.

"Alright," Klaus conceded, he'd made progress but not much, "if you say so. Still, I am here."

"Don't worry, I know!" Finral continued, trying to keep the conversation light, "Anyways, how are things with Yuno and Mimosa?"

This time, Klaus did groan out loud, completely exasperated with his younger teammates. He almost put his forehead in his hands as a sign of defeat, almost. Still, he took a quick sip of tea before answering Finral's question.

"They've been... difficult as of late. I suppose it is my fault," Klaus pondered, he rested his head on one hand while tracing the top of the tea cup with his other, it made a soft harmonic sound. "I did keep secrets from them, but... is that really so bad? I'm sure there are many things Yuno and Mimosa don't tell me, but I can't keep one or two things for myself? It seems rather hypocritical."

"To be fair," Finral said, trying his best not to offend his friend, "they look to you as a leader, they want to emulate you. Sometimes that means sacrificing personal things to help them grow." He finished by taking the first bite out of his scone.

"Somehow I doubt that," Klaus sighed, he'd stopped messing with his teacup and resigned himself to take another sip, "I'm sure Yuno thinks I'm just an annoyance, the same goes for Mimosa. Those two are relentlessly insubordinate and troublesome, it's like I don't even matter! I try, I really do, but they insist on having no help." He muttered, starting to get heated.

Finral thought for a second before responding, "Sure they do that, but they do care," he looked at Klaus, who was staring at his own cup this time, "remember when you got the flu, and they both dropped everything to make sure you were okay? Mimosa even tried to make soup."

Klaus sighed, "I guess so," he dryly chuckled, "the soup turned out awful though."

"Of course it did," Finral replied, glad to have lifted his friends spirits even a little bit, "it was her first time making food on her own, wasn't it? Royals don't really have to worry about things like cooking, do they?" He muttered the last part, a little jealous.

"Probably not," Klaus responded, he took a sip of his tea, it was still piping hot despite the minutes that had passed, "but it's the thought that counts. And then Yuno had to take over and it ended up being decent enough."

"Yeah, I remember Asta telling me that in in his village, they all know how to cook a few basic meals." Finral nodded, remembering when the boy had made some of his childhood meals for everyone to try.

"Well thank goodness Yuno hasn't made those dreadful Tatoes that I had while in Hage," Klaus sighed, painfully remembering the experience, "I don't think there'd be enough water in the base if he made them for everyone."

"That is true..." Finral said, thinking back to when he took a bit of the devil food, his mouth had been crying non-existent tears for hours afterwards.

"Oh, Finral, I have something for you," Klaus said, reaching into his robe, "I thought you'd enjoy it, that's all." He muttered, grabbing the book from it's hiding place and bringing it out.

He handed it to the brown-haired man, who looked surprised at the sudden gift. The book was slipped into his hands, it felt worn and well-enjoyed by the person who owned it, it was bound in old leather that was soft to the touch and the pages were cream-colored. Finral looked at it, it was a worn blue color and the title was weathered, but it clearly read _Selim's Adventures_, he'd heard of it but had never read it. 

"What's it about?" Finral asked, curious as to why Klaus would give it to him.

"It's about a young boy named Selim, who's father is the king, but as he grows older he notices that his father is evil and doesn't care about his people, the story is about his journey to become the new King to protect his kingdom." Klaus summarized, he pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Huh," Finral said, still studying the book, it looked like it was a few decades old, but someone had taken good care of it so it hadn't fallen apart. "you read it?" He asked, it didn't seem like Klaus' kind of book.

"Well, I had it as a child," Klaus said, a little uncomfortable with discussing it, "it used to be my favorite story."

That was a lie, Klaus thought, it still was his favorite story. As a child of his noble family, reading was encouraged, something Klaus didn't mind. But the books they wanted him to study were non-fiction, they were the history of the Clover Kingdom and the other kingdoms, studies on politics and culture, theories on magic and in-depth fighting strategies. Klaus did it, viewing it as a chore, instead of fun.

He'd been incredibly bored, until one day, an older servant woman had secretly given him the story book. He remembered when he got the old thing, it was roughed up and a little torn, but still readable. He stayed up the entire night reading, finally knowing the joy other children has gotten to experience with books. He hid it from his parents, knowing they'd disapprove of such a story and it became his one secret.

He had fixed it up over the years and tried his best to keep it in perfect condition, secretly talking with the woman who had given it to him. It was her child's, she had told him, but he had passed away long ago so he didn't have to feel guilty about keeping it. She talked with him in a way that no one else had dared to, his parents talked to him like he was a trained animal, and the other servants were too scared to even approach him. She treated him like he was a person, like he was on the same level as her, an equal. He didn't mind it even though he was a noble, and she was a peasant.

Until one day, when he was around 12 years old, she didn't show up for work. He had asked his parents about it, but they'd simply scold him and tell him to get back to his studies or training. It had only been the through the whispers of the other servants had he learned that she had died, her home had been caught up in a fight between criminals and magic knights. One attack had missed the enemy and hit her small shack, she had been crushed under rubble.

He remembered what happened afterwards, he had been forced to go to his magic training almost as soon as he'd heard. He almost killed his trainer that day, his mind -- blank with rage and grief -- hadn't cared about his life. His parents had been proud, they praised him.

When he got to his room that night, he had promised himself that he'd be the best magic knight this kingdom had ever seen. He'd be better than those horrible excuses for mages who had killed an innocent woman. He was a powerful noble, and he grew to hate those who didn't follow orders, who disregarded the rules and risked lives. One of them being commoners who joined the magic knights, who dared to think they were equals. They would just be liabilities and dangerous to accept, Klaus told himself, sure of his position.

Until he met Yuno and Asta, who had proved themselves to be leagues above him, a goal he could almost certainly never reach. But they'd treated him like a person, despite the power difference, they didn't really care about status or power level in regards to people. He had been shocked, that they cared for others despite how much it could backfire, and for him of all people.

He was still deep in thought when he heard Finral saying his name, "Yes?" He responded, he cursed himself for getting swept up into his memories.

"Thank you," Finral said, noticing that his friend looked a little distracted, "I can't wait to read it." He said, genuinely excited about the gift he had received.

Klaus perked up a bit, Finral's first reaction to the book had worried him, what if he didn't like it? But he was glad to see that something precious to him would be appreciated by someone else. Even if it was just an old book.

"Actually," Finral continued, reaching into his pocket, "I have something for you, too." He pulled out the small oblong box he put in there earlier.

Klaus reacted with a mix of surprise and curiosity, he stiffened for a brief moment before forcing himself to relax. "Really? You didn't have to." He said, knowing he was hypocritical since he had just given Finral a gift.

"Think of it as a thank you for paying every time," Finral said, lightly chuckling as he pushed the box over the table to Klaus.

Klaus hesitated for a moment before grasping the box with his hand, he picked it up to inspect it. It was a simple grey color, flat and unassuming, he felt around the edge for the top of the box. He quickly found it and with a simple tug, the top came off and the box was open.

Inside was a black case, rectangular with rounded edges, he recognized it as a case for glasses. It was a glossy black color, shining even in the shade, he couldn't tell what it was made out of. He picked it up for closer inspection and immediately noticed it was cool and smooth to the touch. He ran his fingers over the surface, but stopped when he felt a groove.

He looked closer at it, and with surprise, he noticed it was engraved. A sun, more specifically the Golden Dawn's symbol, was in the corner, etched in a golden color. It was intricate in detail, entirely accurate and proportional. He was shocked. And in the opposite corner... was his name, in detailed and elegant font. _Klaus Lunettes_ it read, looping letters and all. It was beautiful, he thought, touched by such a wonderful gift.

Finral was worried, it'd been almost a minute and Klaus hadn't responded at all. He wondered if he should've gotten something else, even though Klaus had mentioned that he had wanted it for his birthday. They'd been discussing the possibility of a joint party for Asta and Yuno again, and Finral had brought up presents. Klaus then admitted that he had no idea what kids like Yuno and Asta would want, considering the only thing he'd ever dared ask his parents for was a case for his glasses.

Finral was still questioning his choices when he all of a sudden felt a warm pair of arms wrap tightly around him. With shock, he realized that he was being hugged by Klaus, who had gotten out of his seat when Finral had been distracted by his thoughts. Klaus tightened his hold, and Finral was shocked by his strength and tenacity.

"Thank you so much for this precious gift!" Klaus said, his voice both intense and sincere. His eyes were screwed shut as he held on to Finral.

"K-Klaus..." Finral stuttered, he didn't expect Klaus to be so receptive to his gift, it wasn't anything amazing after all.

Out of the corner of Finral's eye, he saw movement down the street. He swore he could've seen a flash of orange hair peeking around the corner of a building, but his eyes were probably playing tricks on him. As he blinked his eyes to clear them, he focused his attention back on Klaus, who had let go and was now frantically apologizing for hugging him so suddenly. Finral smiled, overjoyed his friend was so happy.

* * *

Asta didn't really expect to be suddenly dragged into a Golden Dawn spy mission, but life tended to throw him a lot of curve balls. By that, he meant that life would break the laws of physics to have all the balls turn and fly at Asta. Well, life can suck it! Asta thought, he would just hit them all back and become even stronger!

He'd been in the market place, looking around with Noelle and Luck. After all the missions they'd had lately, they wanted to take a quick break and a trip to the capital sounded like fun. Noelle was looking at another, more intricate wand, when Luck had suddenly called them over. The older boy was looking around curiously, and Asta suddenly remembered that Luck could very keenly sense mana.

"What is it?" Asta asked, a severe expression on his face, "Is it an enemy? The Eye of the Midnight Sun?" As he continued he started reaching for his grimoire, preparing for battle.

"No, it's someone we know," Luck muttered, racking his brain for who's mana felt like this, "someone powerful who's trying to hide it..."

"Huh? Really?" Noelle said, "I can't sense anything." She looked around, trying to find a sign of someone familiar.

"It's probably because you can't control your magic!" Luck laughed, oblivious to Noelle suddenly turning toward him and raising her wand to attack. Asta wrenched her hand down before she could maim her idiotic teammate, she turned away and still looked murderous.

Luck suddenly turned his head, his signature smile spread wide on his face. "Oh, there they are!" And before either one of the Black Bulls could stop him, he jumped onto the roof of a building, his magic activated and ready to go.

"Damn it, not again!" Asta cursed, already taking off in the direction Luck had gone. He sharply turned the corner, making sure to keep his eyes on the rooftop.

"Asta, wait up!" Noelle called, angry that her teammate ran off without warning her. She started running after him, huffing about Asta being a reactionary moron.

Asta kept his eyes on Luck's continuously hopping form, he had only grown faster in these past few months. Constant missions, life-or-death situations and training tended to do that. Everytime Luck turned a corner, Asta had to backpedal and run down a different street just to keep him in eyesight.

It was a long and intense chase, Asta kept calling for Luck to stop, only to have him completely ignore whatever he said. Luck was zoned in on his target, he was lazer-focused and wouldn't be deterred from his goal, he wanted a fight. He'd promised Finral he wouldn't, but Finral couldn't be mad if he never found out.

Asta thought he would lose him, Luck kept getting faster and faster, losing any sense of reality besides the one he wanted. _Fight..._, his mind whispered, egging him on. But this time a small part of him wanted to wait for his team, to have them be right next to him as they fought together, had fun together. His friends, he thought, and he slowed down ever so slightly, but enough for Noelle to make her move.

Noelle kept up with Asta long enough to notice Luck's decrease in speed, and quickly her mind came up with a workable plan, but one that required a precise shot. She grabbed her wand and pointed it just ahead of where Luck was running, and with a shout -- and a small prayer -- she launched a water attack. It traveled precisely, a miracle on her end, and Luck ran straight into it. His smile was still frozen on his face as he was knocked sideways over the roof he was running on.

"Wow, Noelle, great job!" Asta yelled, turning the corner at the end of the street to go and find Luck. He gave her a quick thumbs up before he disappeared behind a building.

"W-whatever, Dorksta." She said to nobody, Asta was no longer in hearing range of her voice and Luck was across a row of houses from her. After double checking that she was all alone, she gave herself a small fist pump, proud of her magic being able to hit a moving target so precisely.

After that semi-embarrassing moment, she gathered herself and started running over to wherever Asta had gone. She rounded two more corners before she was able to see Asta and Luck. Luck was on the ground, dazed but out of that weird trance he'd been in, Asta was next to him, trying to pick him up off the ground.

"Wow! That was a powerful attack!" Luck cheered, seemingly harboring no ill will towards Noelle for hitting him with her magic.

"Of course it was, I'm royalty after all." She said, repeating her usual line. She flipped her hair back for good effort, and was satisfied with that.

"That's great and all," Asta said, tugging on Luck's arm to force him up, "but can I get some help here? He's really heavy!" He grunted as he tried to move Luck again, the man in question simply didn't care about Asta's efforts and was more focused on Noelle.

"Now we have to fight!" Luck said, still sitting on the ground while Asta groaned in frustration. Luck took a swipe at the young boy, who jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being fried.

"Please, you'd be obliterated." Noelle teased, keeping a lofty expression on her face. She wanted to laugh at Asta's nervous expression, she didn't actually want to fight Luck after all.

"Ooo, now I just wanna fight you more! Just one round, please?" Luck begged, getting fired up again. He stood up and looked and Noelle with a pleading expression.

"I was joking, idiot!" Noelle responded, kind of nervous that Luck had every intention of having a death match right then and there. She shifted her weight to her other foot before looking at Asta.

"Okay, no fighting right now, maybe later." Asta said, exasperated with Luck's attitude. He had hoped that Luck would've kept his promise not to fight, he really didn't want to deal with injuries today.

"Aww..." Luck groaned, reigning in his magic and powering down. And he was looking forward to it too...

"Luck," Asta said, curious about what set the boy off, "where are they? What exactly did you sense?" He asked, determined to find answers.

"Well, now they're about two blocks away, but they don't seem to be doing anything, just hiding. I still can't recognize their mana though." Luck sighed, he wanted to know who he'd be fighting.

"Okay!" Asta said, coming up with a plan, "Let's go check them out!" He excitedly cheered, pumping his fist victoriously in the air.

"Really?" Noelle asked, confused about Asta's very un-Asta plan.

"Well, they're not attacking anyone and they seem to be people we know, let's just see what they're up to!" He said, completely rational about the entire situation. Also very un-Asta.

"Okay, but if they're not friends, I can do what I want, right?" Luck asked, staring at Asta with hope in his big shining eyes. It would almost be cute if it wasn't for the bloodlust in them as well.

"Maybe." Asta conceded, turning towards the direction Luck had been running in earlier, "They're this way, right?" He asked, wanting to clarify before he went on a goose chase.

"Yep!" Luck called, still cheery despite the days events, he started speed-walking towards where the unknown person(s) location. Gesturing for Asta and Noelle to come with him, and after a quick glance at each other for affirmation, they joined Luck.

They moved together in silence for the next two blocks, on guard against any sudden attacks or movements. There was nothing of the sort, as they moved closer, and they could tell because Luck started getting twitchy, his hands would also spark and light up with magic. They looked ahead and saw nothing, they looked back at Luck, who gestured around the corner to their left. They nodded in response, magic and weapons ready for defense.

They were a few feet before the corner, Asta looked back on his team and held up his hand, all five fingers splayed. He started counting down with it, putting one finger down for each second, and as soon as he put the last one to his palm, they rushed around the corner. They were in the middle of a battle cry before wind magic surrounded the Black Bulls and closed tightly around them while lifting them up, almost like a giant hand. It pressed their mouths closed, cutting off any sound they wanted to make.

Asta lifted his sword and chopped though the powerful spell, he was, along with the rest of his team, dropped to the ground. After jumping back to his feet, he looked around for the attacker, finally settling on a figure about 20 feet away, as he lifted the sword to a ready position, a jolt of realization hit him.

"Yuno?" He said, shocked to see his childhood friend, especially considering he had just attacked him and his team.

"Yuno..." Noelle mumbled, stumbling up behind Asta, she recognized the name and as she looked up, she recognized the face. It was that guy from the dungeon! She thought, Asta's childhood friend! She noticed the usually stoic individual looked slightly panicked, an expression she hadn't seen him make before.

"Yuno!" Hissed Mimosa, who was standing a few feet behind him, they'd be caught at this rate. She quickly ran up to where he was, she was about to lecture him about using such powerful spells when she heard someone call her name. She turned towards the sound, shocked by the appearance of Asta and his friends.

"Mimosa? What are you guys doing here-" Noelle said, before she was once again cut off by Yuno using his wind magic to silence her.

"What the hell, Yun-" Asta cried before he also met the same fate as Noelle, he raised his sword to slash at it again, but not before Luck ran past him, magic charged and ready to attack.

Luck ran, heels clicking on the ground, signifying the closing distance between him and who he was fighting. He took a running leap, magic surrounding his arms with protection and long claws, before he was hit with a plant magic spell that knocked him off course.

"Stop it!" Shouted Mimosa, who had grown impatient and brought out her grimoire, she looked angrily at Yuno who sighed before dropping Noelle and Asta, both of them recuperated quickly enough to stand up after a few seconds.

"Now," she stated with an angry look on her usually cheerful face, "we're going to be mature, and explain to each other what we're doing here, and figure out what's going on, are we clear?" She finished by looking at everyone with her piercing eyes.

Asta almost responded with a 'Yes, ma'am' before stopping himself and deciding to just nod in response. The rest of his team quickly did the same, although Luck seemed a little reluctant to do so. Yuno simply looked away from her, but didn't protest what she'd said.

"Good!" She chirped, a smile back on her face, "Let's go to the end of the block and talk!" She immediately turned on her heels and started marching in the opposite direction of Klaus.

Everyone else stood still for a second, still shook up by her outburst, before one by one trailing behind the royal. They looked at each other, confused and trying to find answers, Asta glanced at Yuno who looked focused on keeping pace. It was a short walk made long with awkward silence and tense stares before they finally reached the end of the block.

As soon as they had all reached the corner, Asta opened his mouth only to be interrupted by Mimosa whipping around once more.

"What are you guys doing here?!" She hissed in a frantic voice, not at all like the imposing figure she'd been earlier. Her face was nervous and her eyes kept glancing in the direction they'd just come from.

"Luck felt someone hiding their mana and we came to check it out," Asta frantically said, a bit on the edge because of Mimosa's sudden mood change. "Anyways, what the hell were you doing hiding your mana? We thought you could've been enemies!" Asta retorted, crossing his arms.

"Well, we aren't." Yuno said, finally looking at Asta, albeit with a blank expression. He looked back at Mimosa, who seemed to be thinking about something important.

She came to a decision, she looked up at Yuno with determination in her eyes, "We should tell them, Yuno." She said, her voice unrelenting and powerful.

"Are you kidding? Absolutely not!" Yuno said, losing his cool demeanor almost instantly. He had turned to face Mimosa and thrown his arm for emphasis. It was obvious he didn't want whatever Klaus was hiding to be known. Was it because he cared or because he didn't want to be ashamed?

"Tell us what?!" Asta butted in, sick of being talked about but not being given a chance to discuss with them. Noelle and Luck flanked him, wanting to be included as well.

"Nothing!" Yuno shouted, he had turned to face Asta, and saw nothing but concern on his friends face. He was struck for a moment by nostalgia, faintly recalling his childhood in Hage. He thought for a bit and considered his options.

"Fine." He relented, stepping back so Mimosa could take his place.

Mimosa shot Yuno a small and grateful smile, thankful for a colleague like him, he turned his head, but not without a tell tale twitch of his lips. She turned her head to face Asta and his group, she took a deep breath and began.

"We're here because we're concerned about Klaus." She stated simply, going for the most precise and accurate explanation.

"Huh? Klaus?" Asta muttered, confused about who they were talking about. "Wait, you mean Four-Eyes?! That straight-laced jerk?!"

"Oh that guy from the dungeon!" Luck said, recalling the first mission he'd gone on with Asta. "Why? He doesn't seem very powerful..."

Noelle remembered who they were talking about, the senior member of the Golden Dawn who had been with Mimosa and Yuno. She remembered that his attitude toward Asta had annoyed her, but he had apologized to him in the end. What could it be, she wondered.

"Well, to be honest, he's been going out all day on Saturdays and he won't tell us where he's going!" Mimosa explained, trying to convey the urgency of her point.

"Well...he has a personal life, you know. He isn't really required to tell you where he's going." Asta said, a little worried his friends had no concept of personal information.

"Yeah, Asta, that's the thing..." Yuno said, butting in on the conversation to back up Mimosa. He tried to make it sound important without being too concerned.

"He basically has no life outside the Golden Dawn!" Mimosa blurted, she hadn't meant to say it so bluntly but the day was testing her very thin patience.

"Huh? You mean he doesn't visit his family or friends, or anything like that?" Asta asked, starting to understand why Mimosa and Yuno seemed worried.

"Well, he never mentions his family, and we would know if he talked to them, we're with each other practically every day." Mimosa said, trying to string together memories and brief moments of the past to see if Klaus had ever mentioned anybody he was close to. Not a soul came to mind. "And to be honest, I don't really think he talks to anybody except Yuno and I." She finished, hoping to get through to the Black Bulls.

"Yeah, you're right, Mimosa." Noelle muttered, thinking about the information she'd just been given. "If he doesn't talk to anybody except you two, and he doesn't have anything outside the magic knights... then why has he been disappearing on you?"

"Precisely." Yuno said, glad that someone else summed it up instead of him having to carefully explain it.

"So you were just spying on him? Lame!" Interjected Luck, who'd quickly lost interest at the turn of events.

"Stop it, Luck!" Noelle chided, turning her head towards the lightning magic user. Luck considered it for a second before ultimately deciding to keep quiet and go along with the conversation.

"So that's what you were doing? Watching Four-Eyes? That's a little creepy Yuno." Asta said, a smug look on his face.

"Like you're any better," Yuno retorted, sick of playing this game, "you stalked us when you didn't know who we were." He blandly stated, already waiting for Asta's energetic and offended response.

"Only because you were hiding your mana, like a weirdo!" Asta shouted, completely forgoing any kind of subtlety he had before.

Yuno was about to respond with the perfect comeback before Mimosa coughed, that drew his attention towards the green-eyed girl. She was looking at him, her face was neutral, but her eyes displeased. She wanted to get back to the task at hand, and Yuno conceded once more.

"Thank you all so much for listening, I really appreciate it!" Mimosa giggled, she really didn't want to but they had to get back to Klaus, who had just entered a café when they were so rudely interrupted.

"But we really should be getting back," Yuno added, he could almost feel Mimosa's attitude slipping. "bye, Asta. Next time I see you, I'll have gotten another star." He turned away from the shorter knight, and started walking back up the street. Mimosa waved a quick goodbye before peeling off and joining him.

"Yuno, you jerk!" Asta yelled, he was about to charge him, but was stopped by Noelle grabbing his arm before he could. He huffed and looked back to the taller boy. He sighed before tensing up and pointing at Yuno. 

"Listen up, you bastard!" Asta called after Yuno, who had turned around with a shocked look on his face, "Four-Eyes is your friend, right? So he's my friend too! That means I'm gonna help you!" He stood his ground, still pointing at Yuno.

Yuno turned away, but didn't protest Asta's decision to join him, and kept walking with Mimosa, who'd blushed for a moment about Asta joining them but quickly reminded herself that she was professional and had more to be concerned about than a crush. She gestured for Asta's group to follow them, after a few sputters from Noelle about Asta dragging them into stupid situations, she caved and followed. Luck sighed and trudged with them, he might as well follow his friends.

They all walked back in awkward silence until they were at a corner about 20 feet away from the café that Klaus had gone into. They stopped and stood there, faces peeking around the edge of a building. They were facing Klaus' back, so unless he turned around he couldn't see them.

They watched in bored silence as Klaus waved a waitress over and ordered something. The waitress smiled and conversed easily with him, which struck Yuno and Mimosa as odd. Klaus was polite and would show basic manners to everyone he met, unless he greatly disliked them, but that wouldn't cause this waitress to talk to him so casually, and what seemed even odder was that he ordered coffee and a scone, along with his tea. He would never drink something like coffee, and he hated that kind of pastry. It didn't make sense... unless!

"Yuno, I think I've figured it out!" Mimosa suddenly whispered, turning her head quickly around to face him, "It all makes sense now!" She had a delighted look in her eye.

"Huh? What is it?" Yuno asked, a little taken aback by the sudden gleam in her eye. The Black Bulls also looked confused, they hadn't seen anything out of the norm.

"Just think about it, he's been getting in shape, he's been hiding where he goes every Saturday from us, he's being _friendly_ with the waitress, like he's been here many times before! And, he's ordering something he'd never have himself! Which means it's not for him!" Mimosa looked at Yuno, hope in her eyes, "Don't you get it?"

"Wait, Mimosa, you don't mean-" Noelle stuttered, shocked by what her cousin was implying. She certainly hadn't expected it from Klaus Lunettes...

"What the hell are you guys talking about!?" Asta hissed, trying his very best to keep his voice soft enough to their target wouldn't hear him.

"What she means, Dorksta, is that he's been going on dates!" Noelle said, rearing around on her teammate, tired of hid ignorance of social cues.

"A-a date?!" Yuno muttered, completely and utterly shocked by Mimosa's revelation. Asta muttered 'huh' while Yuno was having a mental breakdown, trying to process the idea of Klaus going on a _date_.

"Yeah! And it must be getting serious! It's been a few months and the staff seem to recognize him, so this is definitely where he spends his time!" Mimosa squealed, so utterly proud of her senior for doing something so normal such as dating, "Oh, I wonder what she's like!"

Yuno had stopped responding and his face had gone utterly blank, he was still trying to process the idea of Klaus -- the Klaus that he knew -- being in a serious relationship with someone. Much less with someone that already seemed so different just based on food and drink preferences.

Luck suddenly perked up, he looked around, sensing much more recognizable mana. "Hey!" He softly called his teammates, a curious look in his eye, "Finral's around here!"

"Of course he is!" Asta muttered, "That jerk was about to leave us at the base while he went on a date on the capital. Stupid womanizer." He scuffed his foot, still somewhat annoyed about earlier.

"No," Luck responded, seeming a bit detached, "I mean he's right-"

"Oh my god!" Mimosa said, interrupting Luck, her face was wide in shock and she had stopped moving around.

"Wait, what is it?" Noelle asked, while Asta was still trying to get a straight answer out of Luck.

Mimosa pointed at the table Klaus was at, Noelle followed her line of sight until her eyes had landed at the scene. There was somebody sitting with Klaus, and that was.... that was... NO WAY! Noelle grabbed Asta's arm suddenly, and pulled him up next to her.

"Ow! What's this all about, Noelle-" He suddenly stopped speaking when he saw what she was staring at, he was dumbstruck. For once, at a loss for words. Luck stepped up next to him, a bit curious about what everyone was staring at, he saw and gave a soft "Oh".

It took Yuno a moment to notice that everyone had gone silent, he was still processing the new information he'd learned about Klaus when he finally looked up. He refrained from asking and simply moved his body, he towered over Mimosa's head and looked.

He stared at the scene in front of him, his superior on a date, with... a black bull? He looked closer and realized he almost recognized the person, he squinted before it finally hit him. Words couldn't leave his mouth for the next minute, when they could, all that came out was "...huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely did not need to go that hard with Klaus' backstory but I did. I'm so sorry this is so long. Also school started up so updates will be less frequent, I'm thinking 5-7 chapters at this point. Also, I really love misunderstood situations, so yes, that is why I decided that a secret (technically illegal) gay affair would be perfect.


	4. Chapter 4: Warm Coffee and Cold Realizations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, yeah. I really enjoy writing this, and trust me, I know it's self-indulgent semi-garbage. But it's fun. Also, my Tumblr is @innogens-breadsticks, so uh, if you got questions or something you can go there.

The group of young magic knights were all still frozen in place, watching Finral sit down at Klaus' table, watching the two warmly greet each other. But... it didn't make sense? Klaus would never, ever be caught dead interacting with a womanizing coward like Finral Roulacase. And Finral would never talk to an egotistical stick-in-the-mud like Klaus Lunettes.

Suffice to say, everyone in Yuno and Asta's group were very confused. It took almost a minute for anyone to dare open their mouth to form words that would correctly convey their extreme emotions.

Yuno opened his mouth and let out a very elegant, "Huh?" His small word spurred on his friends who all started frantically whispering over each other. After a few panicked seconds, they calmed down enough to take turns.

"Vanessa said Finral's been going on dates with someone, you don't think-" Noelle said, hesitantly speaking about what was happening.

"And Finral got a gift for his date, so it only makes sense-" Luck mumbled, also unsure of what to do about the current situation.

"Everybody just calm down," Mimosa said, panicking but still trying to be level-headed, "let's talk this out." She tried to assuage everybody's nerves, but she was mostly trying to soothe her own.

Asta loudly groaned before rolling his head back, "I can't believe Finral didn't tell us he was dating someone! I just thought he was a lousy womanizer, not like, a good boyfriend!" He finished hanging his head forward while simultaneously rubbing the back of it.

"That's what you're concerned about right now?" Noelle questioned, curious and a little shocked, "Not the fact Finral's dating a guy?"

"Huh?" Asta muttered in response, he thought for a moment before answering, "I mean, I didn't know so I guess? But it's not like it's a big deal, but I'm still mad he ditched us just to flirt with Four-eyes!" He finished by crossing his arms, and putting himself in a defensive stance.

"Not a big deal-" Mimosa repeated, a little worried and shocked, "you mean, you don't know?" She asked, hesitantly awaiting his response.

"Huh? Know what?" Asta questioned, curious and wanting to know more.

"Of course he doesn't," Yuno supplied for his friend, "he's Asta."

"Shut up, Yuno!" Asta yelled, spinning on his heel to yell at his friend, "And what don't I know?!"

"Magic knights aren't allowed to have... these kind of... relationships..." Mimosa said, almost wincing with every word.

"They're not allowed to date people?" Asta questioned, oblivious to what Mimosa was subtlely trying to explain. "That doesn't seem like a very good rule."

"What she means, Asta," Noelle said, sadness tinging her voice, "Is that it's illegal for Magic Knights to date someone of the same gender." She tried to phrase it the best way she could.

"Huh?" Asta said, looking at Noelle with blatant frustration and confusion, "But why? That seems stupid!"

"To be honest," Mimosa said, her gaze still focused on Klaus as he reached forward to touch the other man's arm, "I don't really know. It doesn't make sense, but that's the way it's always been in the Clover Kingdom."

"B-But..., HUH?!" Asta suddenly shrieked, messing with his hair, "That's so dumb, why does it even matter?" He groaned and put his head in his hands.

"I don't know either," Luck said, a little shocked at the turn of events, "but let's keep this quiet for now.

"Quiet down, they're talking!" Noelle said, trying to focus on her squadmate. 

Mimosa looked at Yuno for silent support, they wanted to help their friend and they would. Yuno, despite still being dazed, briefly looked up at Mimosa and nodded his head in agreement as he glanced back to where his senior was sitting. It seemed like the two were having a serious discussion, Finral seemed to say something with a sad and resigned look on his face, despite him saying it in a joking tone.

While he was watching them, he saw his senior almost jump out his seat, and yell suddenly about Finral being an amazing magic knight. Everyone was staring, shocked at Klaus' outburst, but it only solidified the ideas they had in their heads. They watched as the blue-haired man sat back down quickly and blushed at his outburst.

"Klaus really... cares, huh?" Yuno mumbled, he kept his face neutral but couldn't deny that he almost wanted to smile.

They watched as Finral seemed startled but quickly smiled at the other man, they hadn't really seen their teammates this happy in a long time. They watched as they talked, obviously used to each other's presence.

The group could sometimes get snippets of conversation from their spot, it was only about 20 feet away after all. As they were listening intently, they heard Finral ask about Yuno and Mimosa. The two people in question turned to each other, a little shocked that Klaus would discuss his teammates on a date.

They watched with even more surprise when Klaus groaned in response, such an undignified action was unexpected from him. He usually put such an emphasis on etiquette and manners.

Everybody started trying to listen more closely to try and hear the conversation over everyone else's hustle and bustle through the capital. Even Asta, Luck and Noelle had to admit, they were curious.

They focused intently on what they were trying to hear, as they strained they managed to catch what they were saying. They heard Klaus talk about how they weren't listening and how he felt that it was unfair they wanted to know where he spent his free time.

Mimosa and Yuno felt conflicted, they understood now why Klaus wanted to keep it a secret, but they'd been... worried. Scared that their senior -- no, their _friend_ \-- had been in danger, or involved in something nefarious.

They briefly looked at the ground in a small moment of shame before focusing back on Klaus and Finral, the later who had just responded by saying that the young teens did care, but sometimes it took sacrifice to lead them. They felt guilty, they didn't want to force Klaus to sacrifice what he had.

They felt even worse when Klaus talked about his doubts that Yuno and Mimosa even cared about him, it felt like a punch to the gut. They felt the urge to run over there and talk to their friend, to reassure them that he wasn't annoying, well, at least not all the time.

Yuno and Mimosa felt worse and worse until they heard Finral, who brought up the time that Klaus had been sick. They both felt shocked by the fact Finral knew of it, Klaus would almost never admit to being sick, and then also talk about being taken care of by lower-ranking knights. This Finral guy must really be special, they thought.

Mimosa thought back to when Klaus had been sick, it'd been about a month ago, they hadn't had a mission that day, which had been lucky looking back. They had decided to train that day, and Klaus had decided to help them. Things were still tense, but they were still close, so that was their plan.

Klaus, despite how much he tried to hide it, was extremely sick. His face had been flushed and his eyes looked glazed, he would try his best to muffle his hacking cough, but it was still very audible. He was also shivering, it wasn't very noticeable to the untrained and unknowing eye, but Klaus really couldn't hide much from his team. It got to the point where when he tried to give them advice, he couldn't talk for more than a few seconds without hacking his lungs out.

After no more than 15 minutes of this torture, Mimosa had turned to her superior and told him to go back to bed. Klaus had sputtered and protested, but after Mimosa's badgering and Yuno's blank agreement, he was forced into his room. He had been offended by his subordinates taking such cavalier actions with him, but also thankful. After changing into a loose shirt and comfy pants, he went to bed and thought that would be the last of it. He was wrong.

Yuno and Mimosa had returned 30 minutes later, when Klaus had been unable to fall asleep and was reading a book. He was invested in the story, despite having read it so many times before. The door opened quietly, and he hadn't noticed anyone in the room until the blue, leather-bound book had been plucked from his hands. He looked up in surprise to see Yuno holding it, looking disinterested as always.

"Yuno, what's the meaning of this?" He asked, looking huffy and embarrassed, trying to cover up his shock with annoyance.

He was still expecting an answer when Yuno leaned down and pinched the bridge of his glasses and pulled them, swiftly but gently, off. Careful not to smudge the lenses, he set them down on a desk a few feet away. Klaus was frozen on the spot, he hadn't predicted that.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Mimosa stumbling in the room.

"Uh, Yuno?" She nervously asked, concern obvious in her voice.

"What?" He responded, a little annoyed.

"How do I... turn off the burner?" She squeaked, crimson staining her pale face.

"How do you-" Yuno stopped himself and sighed, he looked dejected for a second, "Just let me do it." He said, defeated.

Yuno set down the book he was still holding, and marched out of the room. With determination in every step he took, he looked as if he was going to battle for the last time instead of trying to fix whatever culinary disaster his teammate had created. He stopped momentarily next to Mimosa, who was trying to protest his decision.

"You don't know how to cook." He said, trying to shut down her argument. "I don't want to watch him anyways."

Mimosa stopped her response and sighed, conceding to her squadmate that she, in fact, was terrible at cooking. She let him step through the doorway and continue to kitchen area, he glanced one more time at the confused face of his senior before continuing on his path.

Mimosa bit back a groan at Yuno's aloof behavior and instead, turned back to scold her superior. "Klaus, you can't be reading, you need to rest!" She huffed, hands on her hips.

"H-huh?" He stuttered, still utterly confused about the events unfolding in front of him. "I-I couldn't sleep..."

"And you're not going to if you keep reading," She took a few steps to the desk where the book was laying, she picked it up and examined the cover, "_Selim's Adventures_..., isn't this a children's book, Klaus?" She said the last part slowly, trying not to crack.

"W-w-, uh, no," He stuttered, trying to come up with an explanation, "it-it was a... a gift!" He finally decided that was the best way to explain it.

"A gift?" She asked, her calm and sweet exterior slowly cracking because of the absurdity of the situation, "Who gave it to you?"

"My, uh... aunt," He said, wincing at the lie. He couldn't exactly explain his friendship with the servant woman to Mimosa right now. "she gave it to me when I was younger."

"Sure," Mimosa said, knowing it was a blatant lie, but it wasn't high on her list of priorities. "and you still read it?" She tried to keep the last part neutral in tone.

"Well... I," Klaus muttered trying to defend himself from the young girls judgement, "...it's a good book." He said, defeat in his voice.

"Really, sir?" Mimosa semi-jokingly asked, she put the saccharine sweet tone back into her voice, and continued. "Either way, you have to rest, you won't get better if you keep pushing yourself like this." She chided, walking over to where he lay on bed.

"I'm fine, Mimosa!" Klaus protested, pushing himself up from his position, "And it's my job to push my-" He violently coughed, slumping back down into the bed. After a few seconds it stopped and a glass of water was pushed into his hands.

Mimosa stood there, concern evident on her face. Klaus hesitantly accepted the drink and sipped it, although he wouldn't say it, he was thankful. Mimosa stood there for a few seconds as Klaus recovered, she thought for a moment before running out of the room to go grab some supplies.

A minute later, she came back in with a large box, it clanked with every jaunty step she took. She set it down on the desk, next to Klaus' glasses and book with extra care as to not accidentally damage them, and she pulled out some medicine bottles, a large bowl and some washcloths. She turned back around to face her friend.

"Yuno's bringing some water back, along with the soup, to help with your fever." Mimosa stated, informing Klaus of their plan, "But first, we're going to give you some medicinal remedies to help bring it down."

"Alright," Klaus conceded, finally willing to be helped, "if that's what must be done." He put his hand up to his face before realizing his glasses weren't there, he suddenly wrenched it down before Mimosa could notice.

As Mimosa busied herself with sifting through medicines and syrups, trying to determine which ones would be suitable for her superior. Klaus watched with borderline annoyance and curiosity, as his charge muttered and decided, sorting through the vials of different liquids. He sighed and pulled the blankets to his lap, so he'd be able to sit up and still be comfortable.

He wondered if he could get away with running out of the room, if he played his cards right and got Mimosa distracted, he could run out the door and flee the base. He thought about the plan for a few seconds before ultimately deciding it wouldn't be worth it, he probably couldn't use his magic that well in his condition and they'd most likely catch up with him after a few minutes.

He was still lost in thought when he felt a tap on his shoulder, Mimosa was standing there with a curious but concerned look on her face. She smiled gently, her way of asking if he was alright. He simply closed his eyes and hmphed in response, telling her he was fine. After their silent communication, she was satisfied with his answer and brought up her hand, which held a spoon filled an unknown but sweet smelling syrup.

"What is that?" Klaus questioned, a little concerned about something like that being so close to his face.

"It's medicine," Mimosa sighed, "just take it, alright? It'll help with the fever and cough." She handed him the spoon, "I trust you can drink it yourself?"

"I'm not a child." Klaus mumbled as he took the damned spoon, he stared at it with disgust and embarrassment before he steeled himself. With a quick action, he shoved the spoon into his mouth and forced himself to swallow the sickeningly sweet substance.

He tried to keep his exterior neutral but failed as soon as the bitter aftertaste hit him, he reacted with visible disgust as he reached for the glass of water he'd set on his nightstand. He took a swift and long gulp of the cool and delicious water, after a few seconds he took a breath and set the glass back down on its spot.

The taste was still there, although not as intense as before, but at least it was tolerable. He had an uncomfortable look on his face as Mimosa stuck her arm out to take the spoon back, she yanked it from his hand and he came back to his senses.

"Are you okay?" Mimosa asked, smiling at him. She was teasing him with the best intentions.

"I'm fine." He curtly responded, his cheeks tinged with pink.

There was a tense silence until Yuno came back into the room, bringing a large bowl and a pitcher with him. One was steaming and smelled of broth and chicken, the other seemed to be a regular pitcher of cool water.

"Yuno, bring those over here." Mimosa ordered, she might not be able to make soup, but she definitely knew how to take care of an injured person.

He sighed and walked over to where Mimosa was standing, he handed her the pitcher of water while he held on to the bowl of hot soup. Mimosa grabbed the pitcher of cool water and poured it into the large bowl she had brought in earlier. She dipped one of the washcloths she had in it, she set it on the very crowded desk and turned to Yuno.

"How is it?" She asked gesturing to the soup, curiosity getting the better of her.

"You put in a whole carrot. Not cut up or anything. Just. One. Whole. Carrot. I don't know what you wanted to happen with that but I had to cut it up and add more. There was also a tomato, and I'm not sure how that goes with chicken noodle soup, but it was there." Yuno stared at Mimosa with a tired and annoyed expression, apparently culinary mistakes made him extremely talkative.

"O-Oh," Mimosa giggled, trying to deflect Yuno's attention, "whoops."

"It's fine now that I fixed it." Yuno finished, trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Well, good." She said, still trying to placate her annoyed squadmate. After a few seconds of her forced smile, she sighed and turned to grab the washcloth.

"Klaus," she said, wringing out the washcloth, "have some soup, you need your strength." She gestured for Yuno to hand Klaus the bowl.

Yuno awkwardly ambled over to the other side of Klaus' bed and handed him the soup. Klaus hesitantly took it, unsure of what it would be like. He looked at it, it seemed edible, but looks were often deceiving. He took a hold of the spoon that was in the bowl and lifted it gently to his mouth. After blowing on the spoon for a few seconds, he put it in his mouth and pulled the spoon out.

He was pleasantly surprised, it was... nice. With the way Yuno had described it, he was expecting to immediately die or get a nasty case of food poisoning. He dipped the spoon back in for another mouthful, feeling his hunger gnaw at him for the first time that day. His squadmates looked on with mild surprise and a touch of happiness and pride, Yuno masked it well but it was obvious on Mimosa's face.

It took a few minutes to finish the bowl, and during that time Mimosa sent Yuno out to gather extra pillows and blankets, and maybe a bucket just in case the soup wasn't as well received as they had hoped. Mimosa had put a few more washcloths into the large bowl, wringing them out and laying them on the side of it in a monotonous manner.

Klaus finally finished his meal, and set down the empty bowl on his nightstand, next to his water glass. Mimosa noticed the clinking of the silver and porcelain and looked over to where Klaus was on his bed. He looked a little better than he had that morning, he still looked flushed but less like he would fall over any second. He was starting to feel tired, he wriggled down in his bed a little more and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The door opened and Yuno stepped through, finally back from his quest to obtain more supplies. He'd been given a few odd looks from other squad members when they saw the young rookie walking down the hall, with what looked like a mountain of blankets and pillows in his arms, but no one cared enough to confront him about it. They just assumed it was a weird peasant thing.

He set everything down at the foot of the bed, except for the bucket which he held on to. Mimosa slyly gave Yuno a thumbs up for helping her, and went back to grabbing a washcloth. She stepped over to Klaus' side, and put the cool rag on his forehead. He reacted visibly to the sudden and unexpected touch, he started to protest.

"I don't see the point to-" He started, trying to muster up his best serious expression, which was kind of hard when you wanted to pass out.

"The point," Mimosa interrupted, trying to stop his rebellion in it's tracks, "is to make sure the fever doesn't get worse. Just try and get some rest, we'll come back in an hour with some tea."

"Fine." Klaus said, not wanting to put up anymore of a fight than he already had.

They left the room quietly, Yuno slinking out the door and Mimosa gently closing it behind her, giving Klaus an encouraging look. He stared back with annoyance in his gaze as Mimosa walked away, as soon as she was down the hall, he hopped out of bed.

Despite warnings from his subordinates, he just didn't feel like he had to listen. He'd been sick before and he'd been just fine, ignoring it always did the trick. He hopped out of bed and with his impaired vision, navigated the room himself before finally finding the familiar desk. He felt around on his desk for a bit before he felt the familiar frames of his glasses, he pinched the side and pushed them back onto his face. After a few seconds of readjusting his vision, he blinked and his eyesight cleared.

Once he was able to get a clear view of the room he was able to look down at the desk and scoop up the book that had been so rudely taken from his hands. He gave it a once over to make sure no pages had been torn, before finally walking back over to his bed. Despite how tired he was, he was vehemently determined to not go to sleep. He cracked it open to the page he left off on and continued the story, the familiar words bringing him almost as much comfort as his subordinates had.

The hour quickly passed, the time flowing away as fast as he read the story. It wasn't until he glanced at the clock that he noticed how much time had passed, he quickly became aware of his surroundings and listened intently. He heard it, the clicking of heels on tile, they were a pair of footsteps, his subordinates.

Without much thought, he hopped out of bed, put his glasses on the desk and set his book haphazardly down. As he turned back to bolt back to where he was laying down, his elbow flew out and knocked the bowl of water on the floor. It was too late, his foot was already smacking the soaked ground

With a shout and a loud crash, Klaus was on the floor, holding onto the desk that he'd tipped over in his haste to prevent himself from falling down.

"Shit," He very inelegantly muttered, letting himself have this one moment of selfishness before the inevitable doom that was to follow.

And just as he predicted, the door suddenly burst open with a hurried Mimosa at the forefront and a quiet, but concerned, Yuno at the back. He simply looked at them from his position on the floor and sighed. He pushed himself up and off the cold and wet ground.

The quiet bubble between them burst, and the tension was gone. Mimosa hurried over and began to quickly pick up any spilled medicine, but luckily nothing had broken. Klaus limped back to bed and awaited his subordinate's unavoidable wrath. Mimosa was still too busy with tidying the floor to notice she had stepped over Klaus' book and glasses, narrowly avoiding crushing them. Yuno had, and he quickly marched over from his spot, holding a cup of hot tea as promised, and used his free hand to pick both of the objects up.

Mimosa poked around the room for a moment until she found a towel, and started to mop up the spilled water. Yuno still stood idly by, watching his friend carefully. The young boy glanced over at Klaus, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else at the moment. He watched for a second as the older man fiddled with his blanket, a little curious as to why Klaus hadn't added the extra blankets that were at the foot of his bed.

Mimosa sighed, signaling to the others she had finished mopping up the mess. She stood up and placed the dirty towel on the chair to the desk before bending down and using her strength to push the fallen desk back up. Yuno briefly wondered if he should help her, but was quickly reminded his teammate was more than capable when she pushed it back with ease. After clapping her palms together, she turned towards Yuno, ready to give him directions. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she noticed the items that Yuno was holding.

"Klaus," she said, turning towards the bed, "did you slip and fall trying to return your book and glasses to their previous position because we were coming?" She smiled brightly, but they both knew that such a forceful expression meant she was angry.

"Well, I," he started, "I did nothing of the sort." He lied, stuttering his way through it.

"Really?" Mimosa asked, "Are you sure?" It was both a threat and a question, although her eyes were closed, they could feel their hard stare.

"W-well...," Klaus muttered, showing defeat and letting Mimosa know she won.

Mimosa sighed deeply, happy about the truth but frustrated with her superior. Why couldn't he just let them help him, he would get better a lot quicker if he listened. She turned to Yuno.

"Give him his tea," she said, taking the glasses out of Yuno's hand and putting them back onto Klaus' desk, "and put the extra blankets on him."

Klaus looked petulant but remained quiet as Yuno moved around the bed, handing him the steaming cup of tea. He grabbed it and watched with building embarrassment and annoyance when Yuno started unfolding the blankets at the foot of his bed.

He felt more like a child who'd disappointed their parents than a superior who had angered their subordinates. He sipped his tea wordlessly as Yuno unfurled all the blankets, how many did he bring anyways? Mimosa also snatched the book away from Yuno and set it gingerly next to the glasses, figuring that it was a precious possession to Klaus.

As she finished straightening everything up, Yuno had gotten all the blankets unwrapped and started awkwardly draping them across the bed, one by one he methodically pulled them across and up, leaving Klaus with what felt like a foot of warm pressure on top of him. He was still sipping his tea, it tasted like... chamomile? His throat felt less raw and he didn't feel the need to cough as much as he had before.

Mimosa turned around and was glad to see that Yuno had followed her directions and was finishing by taking the pile of pillows he had accumulated and dumping them on Klaus' lap, leaving the man to sort them himself.

Klaus sighed as he set down his tea and moved the pillows to the area behind him. As he was doing this, Yuno was moving back to Mimosa, who was already sick of the day. She looked at Klaus and sighed, hoping he would finally listen.

"We'll check back in in another hour," she decided, hoping her tone was stern enough to get through to him, "get some sleep. If I find you with that book again, I'm taking it."

He huffed but he didn't protest, it's not like he really wanted to read again, he'd been injured enough for one day. He waved for them to get out of his room, they looked frustrated but still went along with it, Mimosa gave one last hard stare to Klaus before stepping out of the room. Yuno hesitated for a second before looking at his senior with an unreadable expression.

"Get some rest." He blankly stated, walking out of his room and closing the door behind him, leaving the other man in shock.

Klaus blinked in disbelief for a few seconds, confused at the irrational actions of his subordinate. After the initial surprise wore off, he thought about his options and came to a regretful conclusion. He should probably sleep for a bit, he glanced at the steaming mug beside his bed. He picked it up and took another sip, after he finished it he would try and sleep for a bit.

When Mimosa and Yuno came back, they were both surprised and relieved to find that Klaus had indeed gone to sleep. He was curled around a small throw pillow that he must've grabbed in his sleep, and was snoring softly. Yuno took one look at the scene and left, satisfied with his duties for today. 

"Yuno!" Mimosa hissed after him, cursing her teammate for his inconsistencies.

"He's sleeping," He said, still walking down the hall and not turning his head towards Mimosa, "I've done my job."

She sighed and opened the door further, doing one last sweep of the room to make sure nothing was out of place. Her eyes landed on the book mid-sweep and stopped there, curiosity was suddenly pouring into every vein in her body and she started moving without realizing it. After a few quick steps and no reaction from Klaus, she continued over to the desk where the object lay. Still open from earlier, she slid her hand along the side and gently picked it up.

Keeping her finger tucked in the book, keeping her place in the pages, she flipped to the front. The book was musty and smelled of age and time, the pages were thin but smooth, almost creamy, to the touch. She finally got to the cover of the book, she was looking for an author or a date from when the book was copied and was surprised to find a delicately placed card.

She quickly set the book down, still keeping the pages open, and quickly plucked the card from the front of the book. It was a small rectangular piece of white paper, the side she was looking at was blank, but when she flipped it around, she saw hand-writing. She recognized it as Klaus', she'd read enough briefings and letters to last her a lifetime.

Small squiggly letters covered this side, inked in black, but faded from the years. It wasn't as old as the rest of the book but it wasn't recent either. She started reading it, trying to decipher her friends old hand-writing.

_If lost, please return to Klaus Lunettes, age 8. I am a noble and will reward you if you return the book to me. It is a personal possession and I will be very glad to see it returned to it's rightful place._

It was forced and professional, even for Klaus. Such a young boy, she sadly thought, writing like he's almost forty.

She looked back at the bed, and saw that Klaus hadn't moved at all. She flipped back to the front page and gently placed the card where she'd found it, setting the book back down on it's spine and leaving the page open. She looked around the room once more before scampering back to the door, ready to leave. She glanced at Klaus one more time and gave a small smile, she closed the door behind her quietly before walking down the hallway.

As memories from the past bled into the present, Mimosa continued to watch as Klaus seemingly fondly recalled when he'd been sick. He was... smiling about it. She really had no idea it meant so much to him, but with the way he never talked about his family and his... overly mature personality, she could infer that such treatment probably wasn't what he was used to. But to so blatantly share such thoughts with this person, Klaus really had to trust him.

"You made him soup, Yuno?" Asta asked in disbelief, surprised his quiet and seemingly apathetic friend would do such a thing.

"I, I didn't." Yuno muttered, his cheeks barely heating up, "I just fixed the mess Mimosa made."

"Modest as always." Mimosa sighed, making Yuno even more flustered.

"I'm not!" He hissed in response, wondering how only two people could make him so embarrassed in just a few words.

"Shut up!" Noelle whispered harshly, "The guy from the Golden Dawn is giving Finral something!"

"Huh? Klaus is?" Mimosa wondered out loud, a curious look plastered on her face.

"Yeah, dummy! Pay attention!" Noelle hissed again, her eyes tracking the blue-haired man's hands as he held what looked like a book in them.

"Wait, isn't that..." Yuno said, turning his head towards Mimosa who also recognized the book. She returned Yuno's look of confusion and concern.

"I think it is." She stated, looking at it as Klaus placed the book in the other man's hands.

"What are you guys talking about?" Asta asked, wanting to know what they were saying.

"Well," Mimosa started, trying to think of a succinct way to phrase things, "Klaus has this book, and I think he's had since he was a kid. He's very attached to it and we're pretty sure that's what he's giving to Finral."

"Ohhh," Luck whispered, still interested in the turn of events, "so he got him a gift too? I wonder if it's their anniversary or something."

Everyone turned towards Luck with both shock and wonder on their faces, trying to process if the boy could in fact be correct about his assumption. After a few seconds of thinking they all came to the realization that Luck's theory was plausible. After a brief moment of shock, the group turned their heads back to Klaus and Finral, a silence had fallen between them. Klaus looked a bit lost, like he was thinking about something sad while Finral was silently examining the book.

They watched with continued interest and tension until they saw that Finral had finally noticed that Klaus seemed less than present. They watched the other man call Klaus' name until he finally responded, shaken out of his trance. They saw that Finral looked relieved, and watched as they exchanged words, both parties smiling and happy.

At this point, the group was starting to wonder if they should leave, they'd been curious and concerned before but now they felt like they were intruding. One of them was about to speak up when they saw Finral pull a box from his pocket, the Black Bulls recognized it as the present Finral had gotten his date.

Their feelings of guilt were immediately extinguished by the tidal wave of sudden curiosity, and they almost immediately became more attentive. They carefully watched as Klaus seemed enamored by the box and gently opened it. His face widened in what seemed like surprise and happiness as he was staring inside it, reaching his hand in to pull the object out. They stared with increasing tension and impatience as the younger man revealed the item within to the light of day.

Their feelings of wonder and amazement were dashed when they laid eyes on and identified the mystery present. It was a simple case for glasses, the Black Bulls didn't see what was so great about that. Yuno and Mimosa were able to see deeper into it because of their stronger connection to the recipient of said gift. Klaus was, by nature and nurture, a practical person. Despite being a noble, he didn't really enjoy unnecessary and frivolous objects. The most frivolous thing he owned was probably the boots that went with his uniform, fur was in no way practical after all.

To have someone recognize that, and get him something suited for his needs while still putting emotion and feeling into it, was sure to make it the best gift. Yuno and Mimosa caught each other's eyes, both silently communicating about Klaus'... boyfriend? Partner? Whatever they wanted to be called, the point was, that they seemed good for each other. They directed their focus back to their friend, who was still in awe at the seemingly ordinary gift he'd gotten.

He was running his fingers over the top of the black case, focused intently on something on top of it. They deduced that it must be decorated or personalized in some way, and continued looking as Finral seemed unsure of what Klaus was doing. The Black Bulls focused on their friend, and how nervous he was, he'd put himself out there and was worried how the other one would react. They felt for him, as much as Finral tried to hide it, he was lonely and didn't know how to deeply connect with others, the exceptions being the Black Bulls and now... Klaus.

Both squads, although focused on different people, felt for their members and wanted to support them. But they could do nothing but watch, so that's what they did. They saw as Klaus finished tracing whatever design had been put on his present and had finally looked back up at a distracted Finral, and started to suddenly get out of his seat, pushing his chair quickly back he stood up. Finral still hadn't noticed as Klaus stepped towards him

The group of young knights saw all the signs, but continued to almost deny what was happening right in front of them. Even Mimosa, who was probably the only on-point thinker when it came to interpersonal relationships, didn't really think that Klaus would go through with it. Besides Yuno and Asta, he wasn't big on physical contact with other people, and even with those two it was only in situations of high emotions, stress or worry.

The point was, that everybody was completely and utterly shocked by Klaus hugging Finral. They watched with devastating confusion as Finral reacted by stiffly hugging him back, finally noticing the outside world once more. As the hug continued on, the group had edged closer to the corner to get a better view, but they'd failed to notice Mimosa's position at the forefront and had nudged her into the café's line of view.

She acutely became aware of her position as she saw in slow motion, Finral's head was lifting up from Klaus' shoulder and she could do nothing but turn quickly and bolt back out of view. The group followed her lead and backed quickly away from the corner so they couldn't see their squadmates anymore and vice versa.

As they quickly paced their way away from the scene, they heard the very audible apologizing of Klaus, who sounded slightly frantic and very embarassed. They kept making their way down the street, not willing to risk being caught for a second time.

They continued marching in shared silence, paced steps creating a chaotic melody of confusion and surprise, but it kept them distracted as they took the winding path back to the marketplace that Asta, Noelle and Luck had come from earlier. The route was long but the processing of the events they had just witnessed were distraction enough for the trip back. They arrived 45 minutes later, and the Black Bulls still had an hour before Finral was supposed to pick them up.

They found a nearby empty table, next to an almost familiar feeling old lady who was offering cooked... snakes? The odd feeling she gave was quickly put aside to discuss the many new revelations about their teammates they'd had that day. They quickly sat the group down, getting a few odd looks from passing people who were unused to seeing such large and different group of magic knights.

"So," Mimosa began as they all were settled at their new spot, "who wants to begin?" Despite her calm exterior, she was freaking out on the inside.

"I will." Yuno said, the walk back had given him time to collect his thoughts. He looked at the group with a serious expression on his face. "We should kill Finral."

"Yuno!" Mimosa turned, trying to chide her friend. She wanted to tell him it wasn't funny, but the look on his face wasn't exactly joking.

"I'm not kidding." He said, looking at the Black Bulls with utter seriousness.

"Wait, what the hell!? Why should we do that?!" Asta said, finally processing what his friend had said. Noelle and Luck were still having trouble connecting what Yuno just said to their present situation.

"It's obvious," Yuno said, still scarily calm despite the absolute madness he'd just proposed, "he's just playing Klaus in order to have the Black Bulls get one up on the Golden Dawn."

"Yuno..." Mimosa sighed with a painful but caring look on her face, "you know that's not it."

"You don't know that." He replied, faster than he would have liked.

"Are you serious?" Noelle asked, both offended and disturbed by Yuno's half-baked idea, "Like we would ever stoop to levels that low."

Mimosa switched her gaze from Yuno to Noelle with a knowing look. Noelle grew flustered and more uncomfortable.

"Okay, maybe some of us would," Noelle muttered, "but they wouldn't send Finral to do it. He has a habit of getting too nervous and messing things up."

"What other explanation is there?" Yuno asked, stubbornly refusing to accept his superior was actually, genuinely, dating someone from the worst squad.

"That, you know," Asta started, confused about how childish Yuno was being, "they like each other?"

"Yep!" Luck chimed in, happy to include himself in the conversation, "If we were gonna send someone to seduce your friend, it probably would've been Vanessa or, I guess, Magna... maybe..." He started thinking about who would actually succeed if they were, in fact, sent on a mission to romance someone. Actually, it could be a useful idea. 

"Quit it." Noelle said, trying to strike down the terrible idea before it could take too much of a root in Luck's head, "Anyways, the point we're trying to say, is that it's not some secret mission or something."

"But," Yuno muttered, his mind finally coming around to where everybody else's was, "why would Klaus date someone like Finral? He's a black bull, a coward, a womanizer, he doesn't even fight. He's no good!"

"Finral is amazing!" Asta loudly retorted, ready to defend his squadmates, "He's kind and caring, and his magic might not be equipped to attack but it's still powerful and cool! Maybe Klaus isn't good enough for him."

"Asta," Yuno said, standing out of his seat, ready to throw down. "shut your mouth."

"Yuno, calm down," Mimosa said, sternly trying to wrangle everyone together, "and Asta," she said, turning to face the loud boy, "please refrain from ever saying that again." The last part almost sounded like a threat.

"U-uh, sure, Mimosa..." Asta chuckled, a little scared of her tone.

Noelle rolled her eyes, although a little jealous that Asta so easily listened to her cousin, she could understand that Mimosa was scarily intense when she wanted to be. Her airheadedness was almost a persona at times, like a shield she used to get people to underestimate her. Of course Mimosa was clumsy and a little slow on the uptake in a few situations, she seemed to exaggerate it and use it to her advantage. She was a royal, and even royals must have cards up their sleeves. 

Noelle glanced around and saw that they seemed to be getting less attention as people got used to their presence, just walking by and minding their business. Although that old lady in the stall next to them... why does she seem so familiar? Noelle felt a memory tiptoe around her head, but the steps were so light and fleeting that she couldn't grab onto it and recall anything of importance about the woman.

She shook her head and focused back on the conversation, which was now being dominated by tension between Yuno and Asta, who still hadn't forgiven each other for insulting their squadmates. Luck was still deep in his own thoughts and Mimosa was prattling on about how wonderful it was that Klaus had found someone outside of herself and Yuno to talk to. Noelle sighed and decided to steer the conversation back to the main idea.

"Okay guys," she said, "what are we going to do about this? We all care about them, but if they get caught or outed, they're gone. They won't be magic knights anymore, and... and they could even go to jail."

Mimosa's filler stopped as a sad look set itself on her face, Yuno and Asta stopped glaring at each other and looked at the table with a neutral expression instead. Luck was pulled back to reality with Noelle's bleak statment and started to take notice of the suddenly serious atmosphere.

"How do we even go about helping them?" Mimosa mumbled, "We want to, but... unless we can change the law there's really nothing we can do."

"We support them!" Asta stated, still not deterred from his goal of helping his friends.

"That's great and all, Dorksta," Noelle said, "but we can't do that without letting them know we were spying on them."

"What if we petitioned the courts to repeal the law?" Luck suggested, trying to throw in his two cents.

"Huh, that's actually..." Noelle started, a little surprised the Cheery Berserker would suggest something so beaurocratic.

"A good idea!" Mimosa finished, clapping her hands together.

"Fantastic! That's a great idea, Luck!" Asta cheered, patting his excited teammate on the shoulder.

"Do we even know how to do that?" Yuno asked, wondering about it, "I mean, do the courts even allow that?"

"Uh, well..." Mimosa coughed, thinking more deeply into the issue, "it's basically run by nobles and the Kira family, they could if they wanted to but..."

"Yuno's right, it'd never happen!" Noelle said, frustrated about the situation, "They only recently allowed commoners in the magic knights, and that took forever, this would take decades, centuries even!"

"Wait, seriously?" Asta asked, he'd never been seriously aware of the laws and it was mostly vague nonsense to him.

"You're kidding." Yuno said, also shocked at how stubborn the nobles in the Clover Kingdom could be.

"Yeah, that pans out." Luck sighed, his excitement deflating with every second. "Even I know how insane the courts can be."

"Agh!" Asta muttered, "Why can't they just date, I hate laws!"

"I know you do, Asta." Noelle sighed, also stumped by the situation, "But there's nothing we can do right now except help them keep it a secret."

"Sorry to bother you young people," they heard a voice chime in from beside them, "but I couldn't help but overhear your friends are having legal trouble?"

The group turned to the source, the little old lady they'd noticed earlier. Noelle was still trying to recall where she'd seen her before, while everyone else seemed confused. A realization hit Asta like a ton of bricks all at once.

"Hey, you're that old lady from the black market! What're you doing here!?" He said, trying to keep his voice a little quieter than usual.

"I can't have an income only on gambling winnings." She said, offering them a smoked snake on a stick. They declined it.

"Why do you want to know?" Mimosa asked, a little suspicious of the lady's sudden appearance.

"Go away." Yuno said, completely ignoring Mimosa.

"Yuno! She's an old lady, have some manners!" Asta sighed, he couldn't believe he was the one lecturing his friend.

"To answer your question, young lady," the older woman replied, "I've been around a long time and I know that the magic knights of the kingdom sacrifice a lot. If they're having legal troubles, I have a few ins."

"Listen, granny," Yuno interrupted, "how are we supposed to trust you. I've never met you, but here you are offering free advice, that's suspicious. What are playing at?"

"Playing at?" The older woman repeated, "Nothing at all, I just figures you'd want an older persons experience and wisdom."

"No, Yuno's right." Luck said, also eyeing the newcomer with suspicion and a bit of paranoia, "She wants something, the only thing I can give her is a good fight to the death." His voice dropped on the last few words, his pupils grew small as his smile grew wider. A not-so-subtle threat.

"My, my, how rude the younger generations can be. You never know who you're talking to, young man." The aged woman replied, a knowing smile on her wrinkled face.

"And I don't care. I don't trust you." Luck said, impatience spiking his voice. His mana was threatening to take form at any moment, ready to strike his opponent.

"Come on guys, it wouldn't hurt to get another opinion!" Asta said, trying to deflate the situation.

Noelle reached over to Asta and pulled his collar closer to her, and harshly whispered in his ear. "What the hell are you doing, we all just agreed to keep it a secret!"

"Well it's not like I was gonna give her their names! I just think we need another person to weigh in!" Asta whispered back.

Noelle sighed and let go of her teammates shirt, leaving him to continue his discussion with the older woman. She gave Mimosa a tired look and her cousin responded with a sympathetic glance. Yuno and Luck were the most unhappy with the recent development but kept quiet and stuck to brooding angrily in their seats.

"Well, the problem is that, we have these two close friends. They're both really great people, and amazing magic knights!" Asta said, excitedly talking about his friends.

"Well, one of them is." Yuno added in, sick of staying quiet. Mimosa immediately turned to smack his arm, and give him a hard stare.

Asta wanted to retort but instead just sighed and continued on, "And they started dating each other, and they didn't tell us and we got worried. Because why would they keep it a secret from us, you know? Anyways, the point is that... it's technically illegal because they're both guys. And now if someone finds out and reports it, they could be kicked out of the magic knights, or arrested!"

"And it's not fair!" Mimosa added from her side of the table, "They found love, and it's gonna be taken away!

"If you tell this to anyone, I'm going to put you in an early grave." Luck stated, completely serious. Yuno nodded in agreement with the older boy's statement.

The old lady was silent for a moment, processing all she had heard. She was deep in thought when the group started nervously looking at each other, well, most of them. Luck and Yuno were too busy staring daggers at Asta for spilling their friends secrets without so much as a second thought to this random stranger. Asta nervously chuckled.

"I think the first thing that needs to be said," the older woman spoke, finally voicing her thoughts, "is that you are all good friends."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Yuno pointedly said.

"Well, your first reactions to your friends... being together, is acceptance and defense rather than deciding to alienate or abandon them." The older woman said, trying to convey her point.

Asta looked at her curiously, wondering why that would be the first point she'd bring up. "Yeah, of course we'd accept them, why wouldn't we?"

The old lady simply looked at him and sighed, "Do you know the reason why such relationships, especially for magic knights, are outlawed?"

"Uh, no?" Asta elegantly replied, the rest of the group seems as clueless as him.

"The simple answer is tradition. Many out-dated beliefs merging together to create a dislike or hatred of a people or a trait is the longer answer." The old lady said, a resigned tone evident in her voice, "But tradition is something the Clover Kingdom relies on, the people and the court. Nobles and royals are most evident of this, without tradition, they'd have no power or status so it's needed to keep them in charge."

"So, my friends, good people, are suffering because people want, what? Money? Land? Power?!" Asta said, his voice dangerously serious and angry.

Yuno had an intense expression on his face while Luck had his smile, but it was forced, almost plastered on. Noelle gripped her wand tight, to the point where it started to hurt her hand but she couldn't stop. Mimosa was the most visibly impacted, her hands were shaking and her face was enraged.

"Sadly, that is the truth." The older lady said, "However, this doesn't mean you can't change it. But you need power to do it, power like theirs."

"I need... power like theirs?" Asta questioned, his voice deathly quiet. He looked at his open hand, rough and calloused from training, farming, and hard work. Nothing like a normal nobles, who would rather step on people than do any heavy lifting, ones who looked down and merely laughed atop their lavish mountains of stolen, blood-stained gold and frivolous, stupid luxuries.

His hand clenched and he looked at the older woman with determination hard set into his face, "No! I'll make it with my own power! I'll become the Wizard King, and make sure no tradition or greed pushes anyone down, I refuse to let anyone else get hurt!" His eyes said nothing but the truth his mouth had spoke.

"Not if I do it first." Yuno replied, still supporting Asta's statement.

The rest of the group seemed as determined as Asta, they were all serious and true about their goals. The older lady had to admit, they were a bit taken aback by how serious these kids were. The Clover Kingdom had always had it's problems and these kids optimism was so hard to find nowadays.

"You kids really are the future of the Clover Kingdom." The old woman sighed, "I believe in your determination and can only hope it doesn't get corrupted, as with other things." She said, turning back to her stall.

"Wait, you're leaving?" Asta asked, a little confused.

"I can't be expected to stay out too long," she replied, "it's not good at my age."

"What? You didn't even give us advice!" Asta yelled after her, watching her short form pack up her barebones stall.

"I don't think you really needed it," she sagely replied, "you kids can do it." She spoke while throwing everything into a bag, leaving the stall itself there.

"Huh?" They said, confused about the sudden appearance and now disappearance of the aged lady.

They were still in shock when they turned to look at each other, for a shared idea of 'what the hell is happening', before turning back around to face the older woman. They were about to ask her what she meant when they found she was no longer there. There was no sign of her anywhere, there was no way she could've disappeared so easily. Their eyes traveled up and down the street, there were a few people walking but none that looked like the woman they'd just talked to. As a few of them stood out of their seats to search, they all has the same thought.

"What the hell was that?!" Asta voiced, putting all of their thoughts into one sentence.

* * *

The old lady in question was now many blocks away, in an alley that was almost completely hidden from view. She was no longer holding a bag, that had been thrown away as she traveling to the spot she was in now. She also wasn't hunching over with what seemed like age anymore, she seemed... younger. As she stood there, alone and hidden from prying eyes, she was surrounded by the glow of mana. It rose and as it did, pieces of her appearance flew off and turned into chunks of magical power.

Once it was finished, someone entirely different was standing where she once stood. It was a taller, younger and different man. He was draped in what looked like regal robes, with short blond hair cropped close to his scalp with what looked like an odd blue tattoo on his forehead. His face serious and deep in thought, what he'd learned that day seemed to trouble him deeply.

As he was still thinking, a bright white bubble of magic popped in front of him, in it was his advisors annoyed face. He quickly plastered a relaxed and cavalier expression on his face at the sight of the blue haired man.

"Sir! What are you doing, your work's piling up! I can't take care of all of it!" Marx chastised, becoming fed up with the man in front of him, "You need to come back here and do your job!"

"I'd like to say, that I am actually doing my job." Julius flippantly responded, "Mingling with the people and checking up on the knights is a good way to see what the situation is. It's a crucial part of being the Wizard King."

"And so is showing up to meetings! And doing paperwork!" Marx angrily retorted, his anger slowly building.

"Well, I guess that's also part of it too." The Wizard King chuckled, seemingly oblivious to the other man's growing impatience.

"You insufferable magic geek!" Marx yelled, finally snapping at the older man, "Get back here so I can stop trying to stall this meeting that _you_ called!"

"Okay, okay, I will." Julius sighed, he hesitated for a moment before looking at Marx. "Marx?"

"Uh," Marx responded, a little taken aback by the sudden change, "yes sir?"

"Can you schedule a meeting with some of the court advisors? I'm afraid I need to discuss some old business with them." Julius said, an unusually solemn look on his face.

"As long as you won't skip out on it, I can do that." Marx responded, still a little confused.

"Perfect. Alright then, I'll get back now!" Julius said, more like his usual self. He gave Marx his usual smile and ended the communication.

He looked up to the sky, taking in the beautiful clear blue that was so obvious today. It was sad to think that while one form of discrimination was being knocked down every day, some still stayed as strong as ever. Julius couldn't even really say he was aware of such laws, he was focused on war time and class based discrimination, creating a merit based system of ranks in the magic knights was already difficult enough. But knocking down age-old laws that almost everybody still whole heartedly supported was going to be just as, if not more so, difficult. 

But he was the Wizard King, and creating a kingdom with no discrimination was his dream. Where everyone, no matter their class, magic power, or who they loved, would never be pushed to the bottom for someone else's gain. They were another group of people to fight for, and he would. They were his magic knights after all, he was put in charge of them and he couldn't have them be kicked out for such foolish reasons.

Julius closed his eyes, and stopped looking at the sky. He might not have known their names, but he knew that if they were friends with that group of kids, they were probably just as optimistic and foolhardy. As he started his way back to the Clover Castle, he noticed the people below, all bustling, happy and sad, mixed together but still functioning. Maybe he wasn't too far away from his dream after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fandom: Couldn't Mimosa just heal Klaus?
> 
> Me: Well, uh, you see- *sprints away*
> 
> Fandom: Hey! Get back here!
> 
> But on a more serious note, this part is probably going to end around chapter five. They will finish as friends, however, through writing this I realized that Klaus and Finral would be a good-ass couple, so there WILL be a next installment that's romance focused. I will make it mostly follow the canon timeline of during the tournament arc and after and it will delve into manga spoilers, but I'll make it an angsty AF romance.
> 
> Also Julius is best dad, you can pry that from my cold dead hands. Asta and the Black Bulls would whole heartedly support Finral and this is very important to me.


	5. Chapter 5: Wine and Birthday Cake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Final chapter for this installment! The next installment should have the first chapter out in a few weeks! Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also this is much more Klaus-centric than I was expecting, but here y'all are.
> 
> Tumblr is @innogens-breadsticks.

Finral had been excited for this day for a while, ever since he and his friend had spitballed the idea to each other, it'd been stuck in their heads. They really couldn't help but bring such an amazing idea to fruition, and thus, the plan began. Even though certain members of the Black Bulls were acting... odd, Finral couldn't find the time to ask them about it.

When he wasn't on a mission, he was planning with Klaus, who'd gotten the two of them some callers. They were magic items that allowed two people to talk through the flow of mana, they were rather expensive but they were pretty useful. The callers were about the size of a compact, a little thicker, but about the same. These specific ones were high quality, which meant that they also projected images instead of just sound.

It was the night before the big event, and Finral was holed up in his room. He was at his desk, his caller open beside him with Klaus' face being projected and his own face being projected to his friends. They were working out last minute details, what color a certain type of decoration would be, how much of a food item would be appropriate etc., etc. They were having trouble with where the food would come from, Klaus had already spent a lot of his salary on renting a location and buying the gifts, along with most of the decorations.

"What does Yuno even like to eat?" Finral asked, getting frustrated with their slow progress.

"He'll eat anything as long as it's edible," Klaus' projection seemed to slump a bit, "but the last time I saw him enjoy something was when he had those Tatoes in Hage."

"Dammit," Finral muttered, "they'd be perfect for Yuno and Asta, but I'm not giving anything like that to a large group."

"Okay, so what if we got a batch just for those two, and non-dangerous food for everyone else?" Klaus suggested, trying to find a solution.

"Sure, I can work with that but where would we even get the Tatoes?" Finral asked, tired of the day.

"What about that squad member of yours, uh, Charmy, was it?" Klaus asked, trying to come up with a way to fix their problem.

"If I ask her to make them she won't keep her mouth shut, she'll make everybody try some." Finral sighed, slumping down in his seat.

"Well, perhaps you could go to Hage?" Klaus said, he was starting to get impatient as well.

"I guess I could," Finral sighed, "but I'd have to head over now to have them ready for tomorrow."

"Alright, everything else I can take care of, but it's going to be dark in a few hours, so please hurry." Klaus responded, his projection seemed to be shuffling something, most likely papers.

"If you're sure." Finral said, standing up and pushing his chair out. "See ya." He said, his fingers reaching out and brushing the top of the device.

"Bye!" The projection of Klaus happily called out before Finral flipped the compact closed. He slipped it into his pocket before also grabbing some money, just in case he'd need it.

He stood in the middle of his room to give his spell some room, and gathered his mana to make a portal large enough for him to travel through. After focusing on the location, he stepped through the shimmering portal and was spit out in the tiny village of Hage.

He landed on a large hill overlooking the small settlement, small rundown houses clumped together with a moderately sized church in the middle. It was the afternoon, but the view was still dazzling. The demon head towered over the whole area, and it surprised him. When Asta had talked about it, Finral had thought he was exaggerating or straight up lying. But he wasn't, it was there, staring him in the face.

A surprised "Oh..." escaped his mouth before he could stop himself. He shook his head and decided to instead focus on the town again. After scanning the area for a bit, he found a clear spot next to the church he could jump to. After deciding on that area, he whipped his hand out and concentrated his mana on making another portal to travel. When it popped up, shiny and mysterious as always, he didn't hesitate to jump through it.

He was dumped to the side of the church he'd found earlier, it wasn't anything huge but it wasn't that small either. As he craned his head around the side of it, he spotted small figures working in what seemed like a garden. He hustled up the side of the brick wall, trying his best to make himself seem like a serious person, but his efforts were quickly dashed when the toe of his boot got caught on a rock. Just as he rounded the corner, he fell flat on his face in front of a group of children, a nun, and a priest.

For a few stunned seconds everyone was quiet, unsure of what to do. Finral laid on the ground, way too embarassed to move. After a moment or so, he repressed the urge to runaway and simply pushed himself to his knees. He cracked his hands, which had been the first part of him to hit the ground, to make sure they weren't too hurt.

As he stood back onto his feet, the kids on the garden started to slowly move again, the younger ones were even holding back giggles. The nun -- probably the Sister Lily he'd heard so much about -- started walking over to where Finral was wiping his hands on his pants. The priest, who looked a little more wary of the stranger, stayed in his position, choosing to eye Finral instead.

"Are you alright?" The Sister said, standing in front of Finral with an awkward, but worried, expression 

"O-oh, I'm alright!" Finral nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his head with his hand, "At least I am with a beauty like you in front of me." He tried to sound suave but came off more... inexperienced than he'd hoped.

The Sister simply looked at him with an exasperated expression, she was obviously not into it. He sighed deeply before looking at her apologetically, which she seemed to appreciate. 

"Anyways, what brings you to our church?" She asked, wanting to move past the awkwardness that had befallen them.

"Oh!" He said, laughing a little nervously, "I'm from the magic knights! I'm here about Asta."

"Oh, Asta?" She repeated, a little worried. She had said it loud enough that everyone in the yard had their attention placed solely on them.

"Is he finally coming home?!" The Father suddenly cried, looking both overjoyed and disappointed, he had run out of the yard and was quickly moving to where Sister Lily and Finral were standing.

"I just knew he couldn't do it, what a stubborn boy, making us all worry so much!" Father said, continuing to tear up.

"What? No!" Finral shouted, suddenly very concerned for the man in front of him. "It's about his birthday!"

"His birthday?" Father repeated, confused for a split second, "Oh, his birthday! Tell me, is he going to visit!?"

What the hell is his deal, Finral thought, a little shocked by the man's blatant opinion of Asta's abilities. He took a step back from the insane situation he had quite literally stumbled into, he steeled himself for the coming conversation.

"I'm afraid not," Finral said, watching Father visibly deflate at his words. "but me and someone else from another squad are throwing him and Yuno a party. We were wondering if you could make Tatoes for them?

"So he doesnt want us there? Is that it?" Father said, completely missing the rest of the statement.

"Well, no, we just didn't plan-" Finral suddenly stopped as an idea popped in his head, one that would make both Yuno and Asta happy.

He quickly fumbled into his pocket, reaching for the already familiar rounded case. His fingers found it, clasping onto it and pulling it out, showing it to the light of day. The kids were immediately interested by it, they'd never seen anything of the sort in a small village like Hage. As they slowly inched out of the yard, creeping closer to the Sister and Father, Finral flipped the top open and hoped Klaus was still at his desk with his communicator next to him.

Slowly, but surely, a static filled image of the younger man was projected out of the compact. It seemed a little surprised but relieved, and as the mana connection grew stronger, so did the picture. Even Sister Lily and the Father had to admit, they too were intrigued by the magical object. They watched as Finral smiled nervously and waved at them, turning his attention back to the small object in front of him.

"Hey Klaus! What's up?" He asked, trying to get formalities out of the way.

"Not much since the last five minutes we talked. Did you get the Tatoes that quickly?" He inquiried, a little curious about the speed that Finral got back to him at.

"Wait, is that the Four-Eyes that came over with Yuno?" One of the kids asked, he seemed to be an angry runt with short hair.

"F-Four-Eyes?!" Klaus sputtered, trying to crane his head to find who had said just a thing.

"Sorry about that! I'm still in Hage," Finral said, chuckling a bit at Klaus' offended face. "but I was wondering, could we invite everybody from the Church to the party too?"

"Huh?" Klaus responded, a little shocked that Finral would recommend it.

"I mean, it's been a while since they've seen everyone, and we kinda overlooked them," Finral said sheepishly, "but it'd be a nice surprise, wouldn't it?"

"Well, I'd have to get another table and a few more chairs, among other things..." Klaus muttered to himself while flipping through some off screen papers. "But I don't see why not."

"Really? Fantastic!" Finral said, the people behind him had heard some of the conversation and were excited as well.

"It would be a good surprise," Klaus said, "Yuno won't say it, but I know he misses his home."

"Asta does say it, a lot." Finral replied, lightly chuckling, "Anyways, I'll figure out the Tatoe situation and I'll meet you..." Finral blanked, he forgot that they hadn't decided a meeting place yet.

"Most of the supplies are with me, so at the Golden Dawn base I would guess." Klaus said, briefly looking away to find something.

Finral visibly stiffened, he tried to stop his shaking hands by gripping his robe and his compact a little tighter. "D-Do we have to do that? I'm sure your squad wouldn't want an unwanted visitor." He chuckled to hide the fear in his voice, but he wasn't sure it worked.

"Nonsense, as long as we're quick about it, no one will really care." Klaus muttered, still distracted by something they couldn't see.

Oh someone would care, Finral thought. He shook his head and tried to come up with a better excuse. "I don't even know how I'd get there, it really isn't a good idea."

"Just portal to the café, I can take you the rest of the way there, it's not too far." Klaus distantly responded, still too preoccupied to notice Finral's nervousness.

Finral couldn't think of another reason, and gave up. "As long as none of your squadmates see me, then I guess it's okay." He sighed, trying to hide his fear.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. I sent Yuno and Mimosa away for busywork, and as long as we grab everything from my room it shouldn't take long." Klaus was finally paying attention, he had a new pen in his hand and seemed to be marking papers.

"I'll be there in a few minutes then." Finral managed to say clearly enough.

"I can start heading out in a minute, I'll see you there in a bit." Klaus said, taking notice of Finral's odd behavior.

"Well, I, uh, best be going!" Finral called out, his voice still unusually shrill.

"Goodbye. Again." Klaus jokingly deadpanned, although he did seem a little suspicious about his behavior.

Finral forcefully chuckled before flipping the top of the caller down, blocking the mana flow and effectively ending the communication. He slumped and groaned loudly, he felt the need to cry, the pressure was already building in his chest and behind his eyes. It wasn't until he heard a cough behind him that he remembered there were other people there. He whipped around and tried to bury his emotions as fast as he could.

"S-So you're all invited to Asta and Yuno's birthday party!" Finral laughed loudly, sounding nervous and forced.

"Well, that's wonderful!" Sister Lily said, smiling widely. She turned to the around to the kids and waved at them, they all enthusiastically waved back.

"Now we have to make Tatoes, good old homemade food ought to bring back memories!" The Father suddenly cried out, practically running into the church. Everyone was silent for a moment as they watched, but after a few seconds they turned back to each other.

"Oh dear," Sister said, a little nervous, "I'm afraid we don't know where it's going to be, can you tell us?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that!" Finral said, his laugh a little more genuine. "I've got spatial magic!"

"Oooo!" A young child murmured, overcoming their fear to walk straight up to Finral.

"It's pretty useful," Finral said, smiling at the kid, "well, except for fighting, but other than that it's fun!"

The kid nodded in blind agreement as they studied Finral, glancing once up and down before settling on his robe. They cocked their head and stared for a few seconds, kind of unnerving everyone nearby.

"So big brother Asta wears the same robe?" They asked, staring at Finral with a wide face.

"U-uh, yeah! We're in the same squad after all." Finral nervously said, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

"Why does big brother Yuno have a different robe? Is he in a different group than Asta?" They asked, still a little confused about the whole 'squad' difference.

"Yeah, Asta and I are in the Black Bulls, Yuno's in the Golden Dawn, so that's why they look different." Finral explained, putting his hand on his hip and the other one in a pointing position.

"Oh..." They said, looking at the ground for a brief moment.

There was an awkward moment of silence as the child looked back up at Finral with a blank expression and walked back to their other friends. Finral simply stood there, a little dumbfounded by the odd interaction he'd had.

"So that rude Four-Eyes is the one you planned the party with?" The young boy said, he'd been the one who interrupted his conversation earlier.

"Well, his name is Klaus," Finral started, a little tired of how many children seemed to enjoy bullying Klaus, "and yeah, he is."

"But why? He acted like a jerk the whole time he was here." The kid bluntly stated, crossing his arms.

"Nash!" Sister Lily chided, a little embarassed about how rude he could be.

"He's just... a little too serious when it comes to missions." Finral explained, nervously messing with the hem of his shirt, "He can actually be pretty fun when he's off duty."

"Whatever." The boy -- Nash, Finral corrected himself -- responded, seemingly finished with the comversation.

Nash turned on his heel and raised a hand up as a goodbye to Finral, who was still reeling from all the weird kids Asta had grown up with. The other children waved briefly at Finral before scampering up next to Nash and teasing him. Nash half-heartedly swatted at their heads as they ran squealing out of his short reach, a smile sneaking it's way into his face.

Finral turned to Sister Lily, hoping to finish hammering out the basic details of the plan. "So, I can pick all of you up at 6:00 tomorrow, would that work? The party's going to be at 6:30."

"That'd be perfect." Sister Lily replied, smiling brightly at Finral. "I'm so excited to see how they've grown, it's been months since they've left for the magic knights. And Yuno only visited once..."

"Don't worry! They'll be happy to see you too, Asta always talks about you guys and the Church. Yuno... is a little harder to read but we're pretty sure he'd be excited to see all of you again." Finral said, nervously laughing a bit.

"Well, I have to go back to watching the children, but thank you so much for inviting all of us." Sister Lily said, turning away to walk back to the yard.

"No problem!" Finral called after her, waving a bit, Sister Lily and the kids waved back.

After they turned away from each other, Finral quickly gathered his mana, and held out his hand as his magic flowed. A portal to where he was trying to go was created, and he quickly stepped through, taking one last moment to look at the demon head. Perhaps he could come back for fun at some point...

As he portaled to the street opposite the café, he briefly let his mind wander to where he and Klaus would be going after they met up. He was so... scared? Nervous? Those weren't quite the right words, more like... terrified, maybe horrified?

His mind continued down it's dark spiral as he stepped onto the now familiar street. His feet padded onto the cobblestone with a light click of his boots, the small sound quickly yanked his mind out of the abyss it had gone into and brought him back to reality.

He was in his usual spot across from _Home's Taste_, as he glanced around the area he noticed that Klaus hadn't arrived yet. He sighed and just decided to wait for his friend to arrive, he leaned against the building behind him and stared at the sky. It was a clear and sunny day, but it felt... false? It didn't fit with the mood Finral felt, it was too nice, too pretty. It was fake.

He was still lost in his thoughts about the color of the realm above him, when he noticed from the corner of his eye, an old woman crossing the street. He wasn't really sure why she suddenly caught his eye, she seemed normal enough but something was just off. As he squinted, trying to find a missed detail that would explain the odd feeling he got from her, his ears started picking up on a constant thumping of hooves.

He quickly shook off the rest of his daze, as he saw the carriage round the corner at extraordinarily unsafe speeds. His mind connected the street the carriage was racing down to the older woman who was still in the middle of the road. No more than a second passed and he was opening his mouth and stretching his arm out at the same time, a scream being unleashed as mana rushed out into a portal. He continued his battle cry as he recklessly jumped through it, being portaled away about 20 feet to the old woman who was directly in the path of the horsedrawn carriage.

As he got spit out right behind her, the carriage barely even 10 feet away at this point, he mustered his remaining magical strength and opened another portal right in front of her, and with a good shove, she was sent tumbling through. At the last second, the horses seemed mere inches away from him at this point, he also jumped through. As the world opened again in front of him, he was dumped onto the sidewalk, right next to the woman he had just saved.

As he rubbed his head, sitting on the ground in the uncomfortable position he'd landed in, he looked up and noticed the older woman dusting herself off.

"Ma'am, are you-" Finral began to ask.

"Finral!" Shouted a voice from above, full of worry and fear.

Finral whipped his head towards the sound, confused but also curious. His blurry vision focused on the figure that was above him, it was about 15 yards above where he was laying, and seemed to be in some sort of transport spell. The last remnants of fuzziness and confusion were blinked away when he felt a familiar mana, and recognized the person who it belonged to.

"K-Klaus?" Finral stuttered, shocked at the other man's sudden appearance.

The transportation spell that Klaus was using was suddenly descending and dissipating at the same time, at about 15 feet above where Finral was the last of it broke away and he was left falling the rest of the way down. Klaus landed on his feet, although a little shakily, and immediately bolted the rest of the way to where Finral was sitting. Finral was silently freaking out about seeing his friend free fall from the sky, and be perfectly fine.

"Are you alright?!" Klaus frantically said, finally reaching Finral. He was already pulling him off the ground and checking him over for inuries.

"Am I-" Finral cut himself off and stared at his friend who was pulling up Finral's arm to check for any broken bones, "You just fell like 20 feet! Are you okay?!"

"And you just recklessly put yourself in danger," Klaus shot back, choosing not to answer Finral's question, "you're lucky you didn't get hit!" He said, moving to Finral's other arm to check for injuries.

"You have no right to talk about reckless, you saw me in danger and completely forgot about yourself! Talk about stupid!" Finral hotly replied as Klaus circled him to check for blood, "You have glasses, you're supposed to be smart!"

"And you're the closest thing the Black Bulls have to a vice captain, you're not supposed to be as absolutely moronic as your subordinates!" Klaus said, adjusting the glasses Finral had mentioned.

They both angrily stared at each other, the tension rising until Finral sighed. He had glanced over to the café, and had noticed with embarrassment that people were watching, other recurring patrons had been worried but were laughing at their antics. The staff were talking amongst themselves, stopping to stare at the pair and continue talking. He rubbed his head in pure agitation but kept a straight face.

"Look, can we agree that we both were being stupid and move on?" Finral muttered, not looking Klaus in the face 

"I... will agree to that." Klaus conceded, releasing a small sigh.

"Well, aren't you two just the sweetest?" A voice broke in, a little sarcastic but other than that, it meant what it said.

The two magic knights whipped around from their positions across from each other, and found that the source was the old lady that Finral had rescued. After a second passed, one of them gave an awkward cough and looked away while the other cracked a pained smile. The tension was palpable.

"So, uh, ma'am, are you alright?" Finral asked, trying to break the silence.

"Oh no, dear, I'm fine. I was more worried about you, but I see your friend has that covered." She smiled at him, seemingly carefree. But her eyes had a glint of some deeper understanding.

Klaus visibly stiffened and his face started to get heated, his hand reached up and pushed his already adjusted glasses even further into his face. Finral noticed and did his best to stifle the laughter that was rising in him, the old woman noticed and put it away in her mind. Finral turned back to the woman to continue their conversation.

"Ah, well yeah, I'm fine!" He said, laughing a bit. "Although, to be honest he really isn't equipped to handle medical situations."

"I- what do you mean?!" Klaus hotly replied, turning to his friend with indignation present in his voice.

"Okay, how about when Asta showed you his broken arms, you lifted them up and dropped them back down. That's not how you deal with broken bones!" Finral replied, still a bit angry at his friend.

"Okay, well," Klaus sputtered, a blush obvious on his face, "it's not like it did him any actual damage!"

"Sure, but that doesn't mean you don't need basic first aid training." Finral finished, giving him a cold look.

Klaus made an indignant noise before pointedly turning away from Finral crossing his arms, waiting to go back to the base. Finral lightly chuckled at his petulant behavior before turning back to the older lady.

"Anyways ma'am, sorry to cause you trouble! But we have to be going, please stay safe!" Finral called before turning on his heels and tapping Klaus on the shoulder, signifying he was ready to leave.

The other man, still embarassed, resigned himself to pulling out his grimoire to summon his chariot. Finral was teasing him more until he'd snap back with a one word response that would send him laughing. The two seemed very comfortable with each other, the old woman mused.

She continued watching them as they boarded Klaus' steel chariot ready to take off into the sky, they briefly waved to her as they left. She waved back for a moment before going back to her thoughts.

The old woman, who was just the Wizard King in one of his common disguises, had met with the court earlier that week to try and get the law that prevented magic knights from dating someone of the same sex repealed. It had been met with outrage and indignation, despite the power and prestige the Wizard King carried, he'd almost been laughed out of the room. But he carried on, giving logical reasons for the repeal, and arguing his point.

It was still an ongoing battle, he'd convinced a few people to try and repeal it, or at least recognize how stupid it was. It was a frustrating and painful process, but everytime he thought back to the panicked and concerned faces of the young knights he'd met, it motivated him to work harder. The magic knights were his responsibility and he'd help them protect the kingdom, and themselvses.

As the disguised Wizard King watched the two men grow farther in the distance, his mind was connecting dots. He soon came to the conclusion that the two knights he'd came into contact with were, in fact, the two people that Asta and his friends had been talking about. Thinking about it, it made sense. What he could glean about Asta's description of the two were that they were both magic knights, one a Black Bull and the other a member of the Golden Dawn. He kept staring into the distance as his thoughts whirled, well now that he knew them, he only had more reason to continue fighting for them.

* * *

The Golden Dawn's base was huge, incredibly fancy and clean, and also didn't move rooms randomly during the day. Suffice to say, all of it was way out of Finral's comfort zone. That wasn't even mentioning his estranged half brother who also lived there. Finral still hadn't even brought up Langris, and still had no plans to do so. Most people didn't even know they were related except for a few of the Black Bulls, and honestly, he planned to keep it that way.

As they touched down in the giant courtyard -- they had a courtyard! thought Finral -- they looked around and found that no one else was in the vicinity. They had a basic grasp of mana sensing and found nobody that way either. Klaus' transportation spell dissipated and the two found themselves navigating the extravagant area.

As they weaved through the maze of halls, Finral noticed his companion walking with a slight limp. And with each step he took, he noticed his face would wince the slightest bit. Finral thought back to when his friend had been so panicked he'd evaporated his spell before he was close to the ground, and felt the normal twinge of guilt in his stomach.

"Klaus," he asked, stopping them both in the hallway, "I want you to answer this honestly, did you get hurt when you fell earlier?"

The other man was silent for a second before answering, "Not much. It isn't anything I can't handle." He finally decided on before continuing down the hallway.

"Dude, you're limping. And I'm surprised that's all it is." Finral sternly said, trying to get the other man to listen.

"It's just my knee, that's all." Klaus said, trying to sound flippant but that was hard through gritted teeth.

"I don't like to repeat myself," Finral sighed, a little frustrated, "but again, you're limping."

"I'm fi-" Klaus said, he was stepping forward as he was cut off by falling down. He had put his full weight on his bad leg, and that had proved to be a pretty bad idea.

Finral ran over to him, and grabbed his arm, helping to pull him up and onto his feet. Klaus grumbled the entire time, but didn't physically fight the help he got. As he stood back up, he noticed that Finral hadn't let go of his arm, and was, in fact, looping his arm around Klaus'.

"Um, what are, what are you doing?" Klaus stuttered, a little freaked out.

"I'm helping you back to your room," Finral said, completely serious, "I'm a gentleman first and foremost."

"A fool is what you are," Klaus muttered, cheeks tinged pink, "but if you must."

"Oh, I absolutely must. You have no choice in this." Finral responded, trying to feed into the joke.

"Well, I'm apparently in no condition to fight, so I guess not." Klaus replied, humor seeping into his voice.

They continued like this, joking and laughing together for the rest of the way to Klaus' room. Klaus leaning on the other man while he almost fell over trying to stifle a rampant bout of laughter that had almost suddenly burst out of him. Finral frantically trying to pull him back up before he could pull them both over, and only succeeding after Klaus regained his senses and managed to regain his balance. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing once more.

When they finally arrived at their destination there was a sense of sadness in the air, they wanted to continue their moment, but reality always took precedence over dreams. Klaus unlatched himself from Finral's arm, and limped over to the door and opened it. He pushed it open as Finral stepped over and under his arm into the room.

Finral looked around at the space, it seemed... impersonal? Like someone lived there but it wasn't... home. Finral's room was a mess, clothes and shoes were thrown about and knick knacks were scattered on his desk. But it was warm and comforting, this was almost entirely cold and formal.

As he glanced around more, he noticed the closet was almost bursting. That's probably where he put the supplies for the party, Finral thought, and walked over to it. He stopped and turned, waiting for Klaus to get over as well. It wasn't until a few seconds of staring that he saw the abject fear on Klaus' face. He stepped forward, about to ask what was wrong but Klaus, without moving his head, glanced at Finral and his eyes pleaded for him not to. He stopped and stayed where he was at, hidden from outside view.

But he continued watching as Klaus swallowed, trying to mask his nervousness before opening his mouth to speak. He closed his hand together, trying to also remain calm and to stop his pounding heart. What was it, be wondered, who could it be.

"G-Good afternoon, sir." Klaus said after a tense moment, still in the middle of his doorway.

"Oh, Klaus, there you are." A voice replied, seemingly joyful but something was wrong with it, the feeling it sent off gave Finral chills. It was also familiar, way too familiar for comfort. It couldn't be... he thought.

"Do you need something, sir?" Klaus said, a little tense.

"Nothing from you, I was just wondering where that little upstart you have is, you are the one the Captain put in charge of mentoring him, right?" The unseen figure said, smug and taunting now.

"If you mean Yuno, then I'm afraid he's out on an assignment with Mimosa." Klaus replied, using his free hand to push the bridge of his glasses up.

"Without you? How irresponsible, but what else can be expected from someone of your level." The voice laughed, and Finral recognized it. He could place it, and he knew exactly who it was, and he suddenly wished to be anywhere in the world but here.

"Not much, sir." Klaus replied, rolling over and taking the insults, "But it wouldn't do much good if I was babying them constantly either."

"Oh, teaching by trial of fire! How very cold, but that's a member of the Lunettes family for you." It laughed as Klaus' frame grew rigid and his face tight.

"I suppose so, sir." He said through gritted teeth. "What business do you have with my charge anyhow?"

"Feisty today, are we?" The voice said with a dangerous edge, "I was just hoping to talk to him is all. A peasant such as him, saying he'll be the captain instead of me, such bold declarations warrant much discussion."

"Well, you'll have to wait until they get back, which won't be until tomorrow. Will that be all, sir?" Klaus replied, agitation evident in his normally calm voice.

"Now, now, Klaus." The voice sighed, annoyed and with a tinge of anger, "I'm your Vice Captain and that warrants respect, does it not?"

"I-It does sir," Klaus replied, looking down at his shoes, "I apologize for my insolence."

"See! That's more like it!" The voice, which belonged to the one person Finral never wanted to run into, laughed. "If only you could train Yuno like that. I'm afraid if you can't handle him, I'll be forced to take him out of your care."

"W-What do you mean by that, sir?" Klaus asked, fear evident on his face.

"What I _mean_ is that I'll go to the Captain, tell him what a shitty job you're doing keeping that peasant mutt on his leash," Langris paused and smiled here, "and put him in Alecdoras care instead. Maybe then I could teach him a thing or two, and who knows, maybe one day on a completely average mission, he might be shut up permanently."

Finral felt the pressure in the area rise, he could almost reach out and touch the tension, grasp it with his own hands. But the look on Klaus' face was fear and horror, and anger. Rage. Finral could safely say he'd never seen anything like it from his friend before.

"Sir, you're not saying..." Klaus said, unable to finish the sentence because of his shaking. One might think it was fear, but Finral saw and knew that it was anger, that he was barely containing it, just barely stopping it from taking form and wreaking havoc on the person in front of him.

"I don't think I need to repeat myself." Langris said, looking at Klaus with blatant disdain, "Control him, or he'll be put down. Like any other rabid dog." The last sentence was punctuated by laughter.

Klaus' fist shook, and the hand that was gripping the door held it tighter. Finral held still, processing what his brother had said, and heard said brothers footsteps receding down the hall. Still, neither of them moved for a few seconds, held in place by invisible strings of emotion.

Klaus cut those strings by slamming his door suddenly, he had closed himself in his room and his hands were still tense. Finral hadn't moved from his position in Klaus' room, and had resigned himself to staring at his own hands, horrified at the thought that half of what made up him, made up Langris.

"How could he..." Klaus muttered, eyes unfocused and his pupils shrunk. "He's our Vice Captain, he's supposed to be..."

"Klaus..." Finral finally said, putting one foot forward towards the other man.

"He's supposed to be the pinnacle of a magic knight, how could he so casually-" Klaus cut himself off and shoved his head into his hands. Pressure built behind his eyes, painful wet pressure.

Finral watched as his friends carefully composed facade crumbled to pieces, the bare bones of who he was openly displayed. Finral took another step forward and another, slowly getting closer to the other person. Klaus had wrenched off his glasses and was furiously using his hand to press down on his eyes, trying to hold back the pressure that continued to build.

Finral was next to him now, and with a swift motion, plucked Klaus' glasses out of his hand, and placed it on the nearby desk. He turned back to Klaus and saw that each breath was a pain, that Klaus was barely holding it together.

Klaus felt the pressure in his throat, it made it painful to swallow, to breathe, to _exist_. Is this why his parents were the way they were, did they try and teach him that caring was useless and painful? Pain was the only thing it ever seemed to bring him, and he hated it. He hated that he cared so much, so easily for other people, only to have it crushed. And always by reckless, angry, horrible magic knights.

Finral only saw the other man's shoulders begin to shake the slightest bit and understood what was happening. Despite his own feelings, he simply pushed those aside to deal with later, and focused on helping the person in front of him.

As Klaus' shoulders began to shake harder, silent tears dripping down his face, Finral took another step closer and within a brief moment he had clasped his arms tightly around the other man. Klaus barely registered the change and hitched his breath for a brief moment before continuing.

After a minute or so, Klaus hesitantly raised his arms around Finral, wrapping his arms around him. Finral replied by hugging him tighter and closer. And they stayed like that for a long time, for longer than either of them would care to admit.

After a while of this, Klaus soon separated himself by pulling away from Finral. He rubbed his face with his sleeve, something he hadn't had to do since childhood. Finral let go and looked on with something like concern on his face, after a brief moment of contemplation he turned around and gently grabbed the frames he'd placed on the desk earlier. As Klaus had finished quickly drying any sign of tears off his face, Finral handed back the glasses he'd taken away.

With a hesitant hand, Klaus took them and quickly shoved them back onto his face. He took a quick moment to adjust them as awkwardness set in between the two.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" Finral asked, trying to come up with a way out of it.

"I-I'd rather we didn't." Klaus said, still facing away from Finral, "Let's just do what we came here to do."

"Alright then." Finral replied, stepping away as Klaus walked over to the closet.

He watched as the other man opened the door with a sense of urgency, yanking it open and almost letting all the objects inside it clatter to the ground. Inside was filled with carefully wrapped boxes, each one painstakingly marked with notecard marking it a present, a decoration or other. Klaus took one out at a time and started separating them into two piles, presumably one for him and one for Finral.

Once he was done with his task, which took less than two minutes due to his exceptional organizational skills, he turned to Finral. Finral was still in the same place he'd been for the past few minutes, feeling out of place and more awkward every passing second. Klaus, who's eyes were still red and still conveyed too much sadness to be stable, gestured with his hand for Finral to start grabbing boxes.

Finral scrambled out of his position and started picking up the pile that was gestured to. Klaus shook his head in amusement, briefly distracted by the happenings of five minutes ago, and started grabbing the opposite pile. Once the boxes were situated comfortably in each other's arms, Finral turned to look at Klaus.

"So I should open a portal to the dining hall then?" He asked, a little stilted.

"That was the plan." Klaus responded, the conversation between them was awkward, uncomfortable.

Finral gulped a bit, and after a moment of balancing the objects he was holding on a raised leg, he was able to free his hand to open a large enough portal to their desired location.

The place they were going was a small, unknown dining hall. The owner of _Home's Taste_, a nice older woman, had overheard the two discussing plans for Yuno and Asta's surprise party and had suggested the dining hall that her brother-in-law owned. It was relatively inexpensive for a decently sized area, and because it wasn't extremely popular, no one else besides those who were invited would be there. The two had been pleasantly surprised that the owner would help them out in such a way, and when they questioned her about it, the only response they'd received were that they were her favorite customers.

Finral awkwardly smiled and gestured his free hand for Klaus to go through first, the other man scoffed and rolled his still watery eyes, but took up his offer. Klaus walked through without hesitation and Finral followed through right after, wanting to get out of this wretched base as fast as possible. When light hit them again, they were in a cozily lit dining hall, orange lights on the wall spaced every few feet apart.

Klaus went to the nearest table and put down the boxes, and went off to talk to the owner, and work out any kinks in the plan. As his friend marched away, Finral set his load on the same table. He sat down the chair next to it and finally started to process the day's events.

He wanted to cry, to scream so loud the sky split apart. But he couldn't. He had to be there for his friend, and he couldn't do that if he also fell apart. He had to stay strong, for now he'd burry those feelings. He knew they'd come rushing back up at some point, but as long as he didn't have to deal with them now, he didn't care. He had heard Langris was cold-hearted, belligerent but talented, but to think he would... threaten to kill a kid? It just didn't seem real.

He was still zoned out, staring at the wall when Klaus returned, and sat down next to Finral. It took a few moments for him to realize the change, and when he did he grew a bit more tense and nervous. He wished it wasn't like this, they'd known each other for a while now, why was it so awkward all of a sudden?

"So," Klaus began, breaking the silence between them, "I talked with him, and everything is set for tomorrow. Just make sure you bring the Church here at 6 o'clock and the Black Bulls at 6:30, and I can bring Yuno and Mimosa around at the same time. We can be here earlier than that to set everything up."

"I can do that." Finral said, relieved his friend be on the tension.

"Then we're set." Klaus said, pushing his frames up, "Would you be so kind as to open a portal back to my room?" He asked.

"Of course." Finral replied, relieved. As he brought his hand up, he hesitated for a second before turning his head to speak to Klaus. "Are you going to have Mimosa look at your leg? I noticed you were still limping a bit."

Klaus stiffened for a brief moment, looking at Finral with a bit of surprise on his face, "I... I wasn't planning on it. But if you insist..."

"I was just, uh, worried is all! But as long as you're going to, I'm fine!" Finral laughed, albeit a bit forced. He quickly opened the portal to escape the awkward situation he'd put himself into.

Klaus quickly stepped through, also eager to escape the stilted and uncomfortable conversation they were having. As soon as his friend was through, Finral closed the portal with relief. After a beat of being alone in the dining hall, he also opened a portal to his own room.

He took one last look around the dining hall, his eyes lingering on the table with all the boxes, and sighed. He'd have to get up early tomorrow to set everything up with Klaus, hopefully they'd be over this awkward phase by then. A part of him was also excited for the party despite the day's events, an image of Langris popped up in his head and without so much as a second thought be pushed down to the deepest corner of his conscious mind.

With one glance at the wall, and a moment to steel himself, he prepared himself for the coming events. He would be fine, he assured himself, everything would be okay. He didn't have to worry, he repeated as he stepped through his portal to his room and awaited the next day.

* * *

Yuno was still frustrated, he was completely aware the assignment he'd been sent on was complete busy work. He knew Mimosa realized it as well, but she was much less frustrated by it than him. As far as he knew, Klaus had done it just to get rid of them to hang out with that damned Black Bull.

"This was stupid," He said as they were traveling back via broomstick, it was the next day and the only time they were cleared to return. "you know that he just did this because of this Finral guy, right?"

"Yuno, stop being such a jerk." Mimosa sighed, hearing him complain about this for the past day had been getting on her nerves.

"And it's the first time he hasn't been on a mission with us, so he's starting to slack off because of him. I knew this was a plot by the Black Bulls to-" Yuno said, starting to weave his worries into a conspiracy theory.

"Yuno," Mimosa interrupted, finally losing her patience, "I know that you're worried but please, for the love of everything that's holy, shut up about it being a conspiracy."

He was stunned into silence, Mimosa was never one to confront someone so directly unless frustrated. After a brief moment, he hmphed and turned away, leaving them in silence for a few minutes. He wasn't worried, he told himself, he was just concerned how this would reflect on the Golden Dawn, that's all.

His mind was still frantically connecting the dots, racing to find any reason to get rid of Finral. He wasn't protective, he tried to reason, he was just... he was just... okay, fine! Maybe he did care. Just a little.

Mimosa watched with increasing concern as Yuno's face twisted, she knew this was bothering him but she never thought he'd be so stubborn about it. She sighed and prepared herself for the mess of a conversation that was about to follow.

"Yuno," she asked, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he said, trying to deflect, "not unless it's to come up with a plan to get rid of that Black Bull."

"At some point, you're going to have to accept that maybe Klaus needs to have someone outside of us." Mimosa sighed, frustrated with her teammate.

"What are you talking about," Yuno replied, a little defensive, "it'd be a relief to have his nagging go away."

"Just admit it," she said, "you care about your teammate, and not just to further your own goal either."

"Shut up." He said with no real venom in his voice, "I don't."

"Klaus has been with us for months now, and you said it yourself, he's your friend. And your friends are your family, like Asta." She said with a smile on her face.

"I-I," He sputtered, his face heating up as Mimosa giggled, he quickly shut up for the rest of the ride home.

When they arrived back at the Golden Dawn base, there was only Klaus to greet them. The only other member who'd really even talk to them was Hamòn, who really wasn't good for long conversation. At least Mimosa's discussion with Yuno had made him too flustered to complain to Klaus when they landed.

"Yuno, Mimosa, I'm pleased to see you completed your assignment with no problems." Klaus said, adjusting his glasses.

They'd landed in the courtyard, there were a few members milling around, briefly intrigued by the new members before moving on. They were holding their brooms, waiting to put them away when Klaus congratulated them.

"It was relatively easy, we just had to visit a village after all." Mimosa sighed, a little tired.

Their assignment had been to visit a village that had reported having problems, unfortunately, those problems were just a rat infestation. Mimosa and Yuno had spent their time clearing rats out of sheds, which was easy work with Yuno's magic and Mimosa's magic guidepost. It was almost like it was purposefully meant for them.

"Nonsense, a mission is a mission." Klaus said, turning away to start back to their rooms, Mimosa watched for a second and noticed with surprised that it seemed Klaus was injured.

"Klaus," she said, a bit of curiosity in her voice, "did you hurt your leg somehow?"

Yuno heard this and turned his head towards Mimosa with a questioning look. His mind was already racing, connecting Finral with Klaus' apparent injury, and within moments a murderous look was set on his face. He was about to walk away, presumably to go commit a felony, when Mimosa grabbed his arm to stop him.

Klaus stopped for a moment, considering what to say before he sighed, "I got distracted while training, fell a ways down and landed wrong."

"Oh dear, would you like me to heal it for you?" She asked, she knew that he'd probably refuse and that she'd have to badger him about it until he finally relented.

He simply let his head tilt down in defeat, "Later," he sighed, "we have an important meeting to attend in an hour or so."

Mimosa was pleasantly surprised he'd agreed to it so quickly. Yuno was also a bit shocked, but at least he was no longer planning to commit a homicide. As Klaus continued moving despite his obvious wound, Mimosa pulled Yuno along to keep up, he was still wrapped up in his thoughts.

They walked down the hall, and Mimosa started to notice more and more. She noticed how Klaus' face would twist everytime they turned a corner, like a fearful dread would thrust itself upon him. His hands would also tighten up into fists as well, as if prepared for a confrontation. Something had happened but not with that Black Bull, someone in the Golden Dawn had done something... and she was determined to find out what.

Once they got back to the hall where their rooms where, Klaus turned around to talk to them some more. Yuno was lost in his thoughts and Mimosa was dragging his non-respondent body around. She looked exhausted, even her cheerfulness couldn't help but be dampened by Yuno's behavior.

"Please change into appropriate clothes," Klaus said, pushing his frames up, "you both have an hour."

"But, sir," Mimosa said, being unusually formal, "I thought we were just preparing for a meeting?"

"I suppose it's more of a casual affair," Klaus responded, "but nonetheless, it's important we attend it."

"If you say so." Mimosa sighed, she really didn't want to do such a thing, but if it was important enough that Klaus was insisting on it, then she would.

Klaus smirked a bit, turned on his good foot and walked away with a barely noticeable limp. He'd been moving around all day, and despite Finral nagging him about it, he simply didn't feel the need to trouble Mimosa just yet. He turned into his own room to get ready, he'd even purchased new clothes for the party, something he hadn't done for a while.

When Klaus closed his door, Mimosa let out a shaky breathe of relief and turned to her companion. She looked him dead in the eye, he was still unfocused and in his own reality.

"Yuno, snap out of it," she said, "we have to get changed for a meeting."

Yuno shifted his body a little bit, and muttered something inaudible in response. Mimosa gently shook her head and stepped over to her own door, 'a casual affair' she thought, she might have something for that. She shooed Yuno to his own room before opening her own door to get ready.

* * *

"Come on guys, it's seriously important!" Finral said, waving his arms.

Finral was currently trying to get the Black Bulls to move from their spots in the base, he'd already picked up everyone from the Church and they were waiting for the party to start. But they weren't having it, Vanessa wasn't moving from her spot on the couch, Magna and Luck were too busy throwing attacks at each other to notice the scene in front of them and everyone else was looking in with apathy.

"Look, I promise it'll be worth it," Finral sighed trying to convince them, "just come with me, okay?"

"Will there be food?" Charmy piped up, suddenly interested.

"Yes!" He shouted, pointing at Charmy, "There will be tons of food, so much food! Just go through the portal, alright?" He said, gesturing to the giant portal next to him.

"La!" She shouted as she dove through, way too excited to care.

"What about drinks?" Vanessa questioned, glancing up at Finral.

"Yes, yes! Lots of drinks, you wouldn't believe your eyes!" He played along, frantically gesturing for her to go through.

"Might as well." She sighed, she got up from her position and strolled through, stopping only to give Finral a knowing wink. He sighed and painfully smiled back at her while she laughed.

"W-w-well, i-i-i-f e-e-everyone e-e-else i-is g-going , I-I-I m-might a-a-as w-well." Grey squeaked as she also shuffled through the portal.

"Ooo! Where are they going?" Luck asked, stopping his little game with Magna to consider the portal briefly, he looked at Finral for the answer.

"Somehwere with lots of strong people, better go catch up!" Finral loudly replied, feeling slightly guilty for the lie but recognizing it as a necessary evil.

"Yay!" Cheered Luck as he raced through, trailed by a shouting Magna who hadn't even looked up at Finral.

Gauche looked at Finral with his one visible eye and Finral shivered. He really didn't want to invite him, but he was a member of the Black Bulls.

"I'll let you go visit Marie on your next off day." Finral said, conducting an unsaid bargain with him.

"You better." Gauche replied, slinking through the portal, "If you don't, I'll kill you."

"Sister-complex." Finral muttered after he was sure the other man passed through. He didn't have to convince Gordon, he was already whispering and rushing through before Finral was able to notice.

Okay, Finral thought, that left Asta, Noelle and Yami. He looked around for one of those three and was relieved to find that Asta and Noelle were entering though the doors.

"Asta, Noelle!" He called, waving them over to his portal, he was having a difficult time keeping it open for so long.

"Uh. What are you doing?" Noelle asked, a bit concerned about Finral's flushed face.

"No time to explain," he rushed, starting to lose magic power, "can you please just go through it?" He pleaded, looking at her.

"You can't expect me to-" she started, a little offended by his refusal to answer her question.

"Just go through the damn portal!" He shouted, completely exhausted with all of the Black Bulls antics.

"Jeez." she said, but walked through it anyways, too scared of his outburst not to go.

Asta trailed behind her, also confused but a little too frightened to try and directly confront Finral about it. As soon as he stepped through, Finral sighed. That just left Yami.

He spotted the captain on the other side of the room, he'd apparently been watching the whole time without saying a word. Finral steadied himself for a lot of convincing.

"Captain, can you please just do me a favor and go through the portal?" He begged.

"Nope." He replied, sucking down on a cigarette.

"Come on, it's for Asta's birthday!" He finally admitted, figuring it was the only way to convince him.

"Cool. Still won't go. Someone has to stay here and keep this place running." He said, almost being intentionally vague.

"Ag!" Finral groaned, he could feel his portal slipping, "Fine, stay here! But I'm going!"

He waved back at Yami who was still standing against the wall, he didn't respond. He sighed as he went through to the dining hall, he could almost hear everyone's voices, their confusion. He prepared himself for a long explanation.

As he was spit out into the dining hall, he could see that Klaus still hadn't arrived with Yuno and Mimosa. What he could see were the Black Bulls awkwardly clumping together as Asta happily danced around with the children from Hage who were squealing with delight. Charmy was sitting at a table, eating from a large buffet of food options, completely ignoring the Tatoes that were set aside at the head of the table.

"Okay everyone!" Finral called, bringing everyone's attention to him. "As you all know, it's October 4th, or the day that Asta and his friend, Yuno, were dropped off at an orphanage in Hage. Seeing as it's the closest thing to a birthday they have, we decided to throw a party!"

"Huh?" Asta said, stopping his little jig for a brief moment, "Oh yeah! Thanks Finral!"

"Wait, 'we'?" Noelle said, the only one to pick up on his word choice.

At that moment the doors to the dining hall were opened, the sound was relatively small and inconsequential to the rest of the party, but nonetheless it was enough to draw everyone else's attention. There were three figures in the doorway, obscured by the light of the setting sun. But after a few moments their eyes adjusted and the people in the hall recognized them.

"Yuno?!" Asta yelled, his eyes widening at the sight of his childhood friend and rival.

"Asta?" Yuno said, also shocked at the other boy's appearance.

In front of him Klaus smugly adjusted his glasses, the surprise had worked. Mimosa was behind him, along with Yuno in a triangular formation. That was how they tended to walk into meetings, with the highest ranking one at the head.

The three of then were dressed in casual attire, well, as casual as you could get with three members of the Golden Dawn. Mimosa had put on a simple flowy red shirt, modest in nature but elegant in its simplicity, she had paired it with a pristine white skirt. Yuno had on the outfit he was most comfortable in, his black shirt and washed out trousers, the outfit he had come to the kingdom in. Klaus was wearing a loose white shirt with a slight v-neck, with a blue shirt underneath it, he also had on tan trousers and his usual boots.

"Big Brother Yuno!" A young child, presumably one of the Hage children, yelled, racing over to greet the shellshocked boy.

"H-Hello." The boy stuttered in response as the child leaped onto him, soon followed by the other members of the church.

"Yuno!" The Father cheered, almost as excited as the children her took care of.

He was soon dragged away by the excitable crowd, bringing him closer to Asta in the middle of the room. As he was taken away from Klaus and Mimosa, the latter turned to the former with a questioning look on her face.

"You planned this, Klaus?" She asked, shocked by the party but not about who had done it.

"While I wish I could take all the credit, I'm afraid I had help." He said, gesturing to Finral across the room.

"So, you know him?" She asked, carefully phrasing it. Was he finally going to tell them?

"Oh, uh," He stuttered, trying to think of a plausible excuse, "no, not really. Only for the party, of course." He said, completely lying.

Mimosa sighed, a little saddened that he didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth, but nonetheless decided to go along with it. She simply nodded in response, which he took as a sign that his falsehood was effective. After a brief moment of consideration she gave him a pat on the shoulder before walking off to go and talk to Asta and Noelle, who had made it through the waves of children surrounding Asta.

He gave her an odd look as she was walking away, but shook it off. He glanced around at the small gathering in front of him, Asta and Yuno were surrounded by the church and their respective squad members, although only Mimosa was there to represent the Golden Dawn. After discussing the guest list with Finral, they had decided it was for the best to exclude most of the Golden Dawn, except for him and Mimosa of course, due to their blatant dislike of the birthday boys.

Finral caught his eye from across the room, he gave him a quick smile, silent encouragement. Finral responded in kind before he was whisked away by the pink-haired Black Bull, probably Vanessa Klaus told himself. He watched as she said something to him, and he sputtered in response while she laughed. He bit back a smile, Vanessa must have a wicked sense of humor.

He watched the festivities commence from the outside, while it certainly looked enjoyable he was still in no mood to join. Everytime he looked at Yuno the Vice Captain's words rung in his ears, keeping him stuck in place. He knew at some point he'd have to address it, it being Yuno's behavior. He could scold him more, or try and talk to him, but he knew it would almost have no noticeable effect.

But he couldn't tell him or Mimosa, that was absolutely not an option. Despite their almost... warm relationship, he was still their superior, he was older than them. He couldn't afford to tell them that he was scared, or worried. He simply didn't have the luxury.

As he was lost in his thoughts, still in his spot outside of the festivities, he felt someone tug on his sleeve. He glanced down, not really knowing what to expect and saw that one of the younger orphans had wandered away from the rest of the group. Without so much as a second thought, he knelt down to be at eye level with the young child.

"What are you doing away from everyone else?" He asked, trying to keep his voice light and non-threatening.

"Come with." They replied in a hushed voice, continuing to tug on Klaus' sleeve.

"I-I don't really know if that's a good-" He responded, a little surprised.

"Come with!" The child repeated louder, cutting him off.

"Okay..." He said, giving in and letting the child drag him over to where they wanted to go.

He was still slightly bending down as he walked in order to accommodate the younger persons shorter stature. His vision was slightly impeded by this and the fact his glasses were starting to slip down his nose, but he couldn't reach over and adjust them without accidentally hitting the kid. What he was able to ascertain is that they were weaving through tables and chairs, and they were heading towards the direction with the most noise.

When the child finally let go of his sleeve, he straightened his back and pushed up his glasses to get rid of his blurry vision. After doing so, he found that he was surrounded by the people from Hage, who were gathered around Mimosa, who was sitting down while children were sitting on the table behind her and playing with her hair. The rest of the church was chatting with each other and a few of the Black Bulls

He was confused, why would a kid bring him here? Well, he thought, no one's noticed me yet, if I can just sneak back over there...

"Oi, Four-Eyes." A voice barked, dragging him out of his thoughts.

He looked for the source, after a few beats of looking around the area, he glanced downwards and noticed a very angry child looking at him. Having no verbal responses ready for such a situation, he simply pointed to himself in a questioning way. The boy simply tilted his head and glared in response, so he took that as a 'yes'.

The boy reaches for Klaus' sleeve and grabbed it, shocking him too much for him to react. He was dragged to the table by the stomping, angry kid and told to sit down next to Mimosa. Out of shock, and maybe a little fear, he complied.

"Hello, Klaus." Mimosa said, her eyes were closed as the children behind her giggled, as Klaus looked closer he could see that they weren't just playing, they were braiding her hair.

"Uh, hi, Mimosa." He slowly replied, still a little confused about what exactly was happening.

She didn't answer him, apparently occupied by the young girl behind her, who was giggling away as she played with Mimosa's bright and colorful hair. He sighed, and was wondering what that kid who'd dragged him here did it for when he felt a someone grab his hair. He whipped his head around, and saw that a young boy, a toddler really, was the one who grabbed it.

He stared in shock for a moment while the young child looked at him and burst out laughing. He was still frozen in his seat when a pair of small hands picked him up and pulled him away from Klaus.

"Hollo!" The older girl chastised, she still looked like a kid but more around the age of ten years old or so.

She turned to Klaus and cracked an apologetic smile, "Sorry about him, he saw Sister Lily teaching us and wanted to join in, my name's Recca! You're Klaus, right?"

"Uh, yes, I'm sorry, is there a reason I was brought over here?" He asked, unable to keep his questions contained any longer.

She cocked her head curiously at him, "Well, Nash told us you planned the party, and sent one of the kids to come get you."

"I only helped plan it, really." He said, trying to politely get out of this situation.

"Sure, but you also visited the village with Yuno a while ago, and with a few exceptions, you were really polite! And Yuno likes you, and it just wouldn't sit right excluding one of his friends." The girl, Recca, said as she set Hollo on the ground who immediately set his sights on finding Sister Lily.

"I really wouldn't call myself his friend-" He started, a little embarassed.

"Then why'd you plan this party if you weren't his friend? And why would he hang around like he does, not to mention the letters he sends..." She said, trailing off.

Klaus shut up at that point, both too embarassed and too afraid to ask anymore questions. He knew that Yuno sent personal letters back home, and through that mission in Hage, he found out that he also included the people he worked with in his letters. As curious as he was, he didn't actually want to know what was written about him.

He stared at the ground, now accepting he was stuck in this uncomfortable situation with almost no way out. As he was looking up, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the young girl who'd been braiding Mimosa's hair was now staring at him. He gave the child a quizzical look, and in response she shuffled over on the table to sit behind him.

"Hi, Mr. Klaus!" She chirped, reaching her hand to fiddle with the top of his hair.

"H-Hello Ms., ...?" He trailed off, he realized with a shock he didn't know her name.

"Aruru! My name's Aruru. I don't think I told you when you were at the church with Big Brother Yuno! You were all too busy rescuing Sister Lily and taking down that big jerk and his friends." She said, still with her hand in his surprisingly fluffy hair.

"Well, I do remember that." He said, his uneasiness was evident on his face.

After a beat of silence she spoke again, "Mr. Klaus?" She asked.

"Yes, Ms. Aruru?" He replied, he wasn't used to this type of formality, usually it was 'Lord' or 'Lady', this felt almost unnatural to him.

"Can you take off your glasses so I can braid your hair?" She asked, brushing over the top chunks of his hair.

"H-Huh? Braid my hair?" He sputtered, he hadn't expected that at all. His noise drew attentions from a few surrounding parties.

"Oh, Klaus, sir, that's a wonderful idea!" Mimosa chirped, suddenly invested in the conversation.

"M-Mimosa! I really don't think-" He said, trying to chastise his subordinate.

"Ms. Aruru," Mimosa said, completely ignoring Klaus, "I think you'd be able to get the best braid right here!" She said, pointing to the chin-length piece of hair that Klaus had on the left side of his face.

"I just said-" He began, trying to put out the idea before it's flame could catch on.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll be helping! Just take off your glasses." She said, pointing to his frames.

"I feel the need to emphasize that I'm -" Klaus said, fully intending to pull the rank card.

"No, Aruru, Ms. Mimosa, you're doing it wrong!" A voice but in, drowning out all of them.

They turned towards the source and were surprised to find it was Nash, the angry child who had dragged Klaus to this very spot. He looked flustered and a bit embarassed, but confident in himself. He marched up to their spot, hopped on the bench in between Mimosa and Klaus and pointed to one of Mimosa's braids.

"Look, it's all messed up, were you even listening to Sister Lily earlier?" He asked, looking at Aruru.

"Oh. I guess not." Aruru replied, looking a bit downtrodden.

"Whatever. Let me show you." He mumbled, he glared down at Klaus. "Take your glasses off, Four-Eyes."

Klaus, beaten down by several hyper children, finally relented. He slipped his frames off his face and delicately folded them, he gripped them with one hand while the other reached down to find the case he'd put in his pocket. He always carried it with him now, he felt a bit silly doing it, like a child who lugged around a teddy bear for comfort. But it was a precious gift, and he fully intended to keep it as close as possible.

As he opened it to put his frames in it, making sure to do it as gently as possibly so as not to smudge the glass itself, Mimosa looked over and recognized it as the gift Finral had given him. She smiled a bit, the corners of her mouth tipping up in a show of genuine emotion, before deciding to just go with a fake wide one. The two were very different, but only one was rare to her.

"That's a nice case." She commented, trying to remain partly subtle.

"Well, thank you, Mimosa." He said, albeit with a hint of confusion.

As she stared at him with a warm expression, his attention was drawn back to the young boy who was now taking his hair and pulling it out to demonstrate to Aruru how to braid. At least Nash was being partly gentle about it, trying not to pull too hard. But Klaus' hair wasn't the easiest for braiding, and it was a bit difficult to make the process entirely pain free.

He tried not to jerk his head whenever Nash pulled a chunk of his hair, it was difficult but he stayed as still as possible. As he was trying to rebalance himself after a good tug, he started listening in on the conversation behind him. It was mostly Nash pausing after a few seconds of work and carefully explaining what he'd done to Aruru and Mimosa, one of them would usually ask a question, and he'd answer it honestly.

After working halfway through the braid, Aruru and Mimosa broke off, saying they understood and wanted to try it on their own. Klaus sighed, thinking he'd finally be let go, he was ready for Nash to walk away and go talk to Yuno or Asta. But he didn't.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Nash still twisting strands and weaving them together, the young child finally spoke up.

"Thanks." He stated, fiddling with a tangle he'd come across.

"What for?" Klaus replied, a little surprised.

"For helping to save Sister. And for the party." Nash bluntly stated, concentrating at the task at hand.

"No thanks needed. It's my job as a magic knight." He said, his fingers twitched in anticipation before he remembered he was without his glasses.

"You were a jerk, a stuck up Four-Eyes, you said saving Sister Lily wasn't your mission, and I don't think you were lying. But when it came down to it, you helped Yuno, and you took down that creepy Noble." Nash muttered, "So I guess you're not that bad."

Klaus was silent, he didn't know how to respond to such a blunt kid. He simply let him continue with his activity, despite how much he wanted to object. If his family saw him now... playing with children, mingling with peasants, why they'd be in utter horror. At this, he repressed a small smile.

"You're done." Nash said, flicking Klaus' ear to startle him, and it worked.

The braid was dropped from it's position behind him and swung into it's usual position. It felt... odd, and a bit heavy, but no entirely unpleasant. With a hesitating hand, he reached up and gently touched it. Nash noticed and smacked his hand away.

"You're gonna undo it!" He said, a little offended.

"S-Sorry." He said, shock evident in his voice.

"I think I have a ribbon on me." Mimosa said, she and Aruru had been watching the entire exchange.

She fished around in her own pockets, she'd specially ordered all her skirts or dresses to be made with them, and found what she was looking for. She looped it around her pointer finger and brought it up, it was silky and long but there nonetheless. She offered it to Nash, who took the magenta tinted cloth with excitement.

Nash and Aruru both scooted over to Klaus, they seemed to be at odds over who was the one who got to tie it. Aruru tried to take it from her foster brother, who wrenched it away at the last second, loudly protesting her skills. Mimosa was frantically trying to call them down before any fighting could break out, while Klaus fought off the urge to slam his head on the table.

"You look like you could use this." A voice said from above him, a glass of wine suddenly thrust into his vision.

As his eyes trailed upward he took notice of the purple clothing, if you could call it that, and eventually met the persons face. It was smiling, a knowing one, with pink hair framing it. The woman, Vanessa he was able to recall, swirled the glass a bit.

He looked at with his uneasiness, "No thank you, I'm afraid it's not really my style."

She sighed and glanced back down at him, "You really wanna deal with this mess without taking the edge off? Seriously?"

He spotted Nash and Aruru still fighting over the ribbon while Mimosa was trying to appease them, he gulped and his resolve slipped.

"I suppose one glass couldn't hurt." He said, taking it out of her hand.

He lifted it to his mouth and took a small sip, the taste was horrible, disgusting really. It burned as well. Really, he thought, who could drink this and enjoy it. But he'd be lying if the burn didn't turn warm at the end, dampening his racing thoughts like a blanket on a cold winter's night. With that in mind, he took another sip. What's the worst that could happen, he reasoned.

* * *

For Finral, the party was going well. Everybody from the Church seemed swell, the kids in their own little group with Sister Lily as she seemed to be teaching them to braid, using Mimosa as an example. The Black Bulls were having fun with Asta and Father Orsi, who was regaling them with Asta's childhood blunders while the boy denied all of it.

He smiled as Noelle threw a jab at Asta for being an idiot even as a kid, he simply laughed it off and offered to tell her a story about Yuno. He watched as she accepted, not without her false protests, and excitedly listened to the magic-less boy as he excitedly repeated some funny memory about his time at the church. His squad was having fun, and that's all that really mattered, well that and the actual people they were supposed to be celebrating.

He walked around, making sure Charmy didn't eat to much of the food, and stopping Vanessa from passing out, although she'd disappeared from his sight. He was thinking about it as he noticed Yuno in conversation with Sister Lily, who seemed distracted by the children crowding around something.

It wasn't until he heard loud, piercing, and familiar laughter that he also became concerned with them. He weaved through tables and people, careful not to run into either. As he got closer to the huddle of children, he heard more snippets of conversation. Mostly encouragement to have another sip of something, or to tell another story. It couldn't be, he told himself, it was absolutely not possible that Vanessa could've done _that_.

While he approached the group, Yuno and Sister Lily also made their way towards the commotion. Finral was only a few feet away now, he was finally able to see over the children, and was stopped in his tracks. In his line of view, he saw Klaus, his Klaus, flushed with alcohol and laughter as two children were tying a bow around a chunk of his hair.

He glanced around, taking in even more of the scene, and noticed that Vanessa was standing next to his friend, jostling him. His eye caught on the wine glass that was being held by the inebriated knight, who had lifted it to his lips again, taking a long sip before setting it down to apparently begin a story.

"So we're in a meeting, right? Discussing some god-awful beaurocratic nonsense, when Yuno walks right out, with Mimosa as well! You should've seen everyone, the look on Alecdora's face was priceless! And I, being their designated mentor, had to stay because Yuno's powerful, he gets a pass, and Mimosa's royalty so of course she gets free reign." He suddenly turned to the girl in question, "Not that you're anything like your brother, he's a nightmare to be around."

"Oh, Klaus, I didn't know you had the displeasure of meeting Kirsch." Mimosa replied, having a lot of fun with this relaxed version of her senior.

"I met him once as a child, he called my magic boring and unattractive and then left. If it wasn't for my parents, I would've shot off a lance at him, showed him how boring that was!" He laughed, starting to slur his speech, he really seemed to be a lightweight.

"Get back to the story!" A child shouted, bored with his tangent.

"Oh yes, the story!" He replied with enthusiasm, "Well, as I said, Yuno and Mimosa walked out, being the rebellious rookies they are, I get docked pay and threatened to be demoted, as usual-"

"As usual?" Mimosa interrupted, concerned.

"Well, sure. Not that it's a big deal, I have three years worth of pay saved up and I don't use it, with a few exceptions. Anywho," he said, brushing past it, "I get chewed out, and the meeting is over, right? So anyways, later that night, we get assigned a mission. And of course, someone protests as most of our trio walked out of the meeting."

At this point, Yuno and Sister Lily had made their way over, also looking as shocked as Finral. Yuno vaguely recalled that day, he'd simply been so frustrated with the effort being put into paperwork and trivial discussions instead of actions or missions, those were what was important and impactful, that he couldn't take anymore and left the room. Mimosa had followed along, bored as well and Yuno gave her the perfect cover. Klaus had stayed behind, perhaps because he was used to it, at least, that's what he thought at the time.

Klaus continued his drunken spiel, "So, then Yuno turns around and says, 'I'm sorry, I had to rest my legs, they were tired from carrying this squad.' To their face!" He laughed loudly, seeming proud of his subordinate.

Sister Lily turned to look at Yuno with a stern expression, displeased with his apparent attitude, he purposefully avoided looking at her eyes. He chose instead to focus on his superior, who had almost finished what looked like his third -- maybe fourth -- glass of wine. He was being supplied by the also inebriated woman next to him, as she poured another two glasses, pushing one next to her, he started up once again.

"So that is just one of the many stories I have where Yuno antagonizes the other members of the Golden Dawn, which is probably why they don't like him much." He hiccuped, closer and closer to passing out. "Oops, not supposed to mention that."

"Mention what, sir?" Mimosa said, her interest peaked by his hushed words.

"Oh nothing, just that Lan-" Klaus started, unaware he was already breaking his vow to not mention yesterday's events to his subordinates.

"Okay, that's enough!" Finral interjected, his voice and body language a bit frantic.

He pushed through the mass of children and squad members, and marched over to where they were sitting. Without any hesitation, he plucked the glass from Klaus' hand and set it on the table. It took a beat for Klaus to realize what had happened, and he looked up to find it was someone he recognized.

"Hey, Finral." He said, holding out the 'L' too long to be sober.

"Hey, bud, I think it's time to leave." He said, kicking himself a bit for revealing their familiarity in front of Vanessa, who was watching with an amused look.

"Really? But it just started and they haven't even gotten the cake yet-" He muttered, starting to stand up. His braid swung into view and Finral bit down the urge to laugh.

"Don't worry, I can take care of it, I think you need to go to bed." He said, pulling Klaus' arm around his shoulder to prevent him from noticeably swaying.

"I think you're right," he said, his voice a tad wobbly, "I don't feel that good."

"Of course not," Finral dryly laughed in response, "you had like 4 glasses of Vanessa's wine, that's enough to take down a horse." He started walking away from the group.

Yuno was about to step forward, to protest Finral taking away Klaus, but suddenly Mimosa was next to him, her hand on his shoulder telling him not to. He looked at her with petulant acceptance and huffed, he crossed his arms and decided to instead watch the two magic knights shuffle away. He stared with intensity as Finral opened a portal in the middle of the room and brought the woozy Golden Dawn member through, still suspicious of him.

"Wait, where's he going?" Asta said, finally noticing the chaos that had been going on. He had walked over with Noelle, who was a little miffed her story time with Asta had been cut short.

"Oh, Klaus just had too much to drink, so your friend is taking him to lay down, I guess he's going back to the base." She shrugged, sounding unconcerned.

"I didn't know that Finral went to the Golden Dawn base." Noelle said, curiosity in her voice.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mimosa asked, a little confused by her cousin.

"Well, Finral's a spatial magic user, he can only teleport to places he's been or that he can see." Noelle replied, a little dumbfounded her cousin didn't know.

"Oh..." Mimosa said, after a beat her face turned red. She turned to her silent compatriot, needing a second opinion on her working theory.

"Yuno, you don't think Klaus sent us away, not just for the party, but maybe, because... he wanted to, you know..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"Mimosa." He said turning to her, "Shut up. Please." He didn't want to think about it, he absolutely was banishing every thought in his head to the deepest corner of his mind.

"S-So you think I'm right!" She said, ignoring his actual words.

"Mimosa, I'm begging you," Yuno said, uncharacteristically genuine horror on his face, "stop it."

"What are you two talking about?" Asta asked, confused about their hushed voices.

"Nothing!" They piped back at the same time.

As they were chatting, Finral had returned from dropping Klaus off in his room. After making sure his friend had everything he came to the party with, he plopped him into his bed, braid and all. He could sort himself out on his own tomorrow, even with a killer hangover. Finral knew he'd have to chew out Vanessa later, but right now they still had to have cake and other festivities.

Finral went over to the main table, where thankfully Charmy hadn't laid waste yet, and saw that the cake was in perfect condition. He took up the candles that were next to it, and set to work laying 16 of them out in a careful arrangement. When he was satisfied with his work, he put his hands on his hips and called for everyone's attention.

"Everyone! Time to blow out the candles!" He yelled, his voice echoing over everyone else's.

Yuno and Asta, along with everyone else, shuffled up to where Finral was at. They looked at the cake, and at Finral with a questioning glance, they thought theu had long outgrown this tradition. Finral simply gestured for them to do it.

"I'm totally gonna blow out more than you, Yuno!" Asta said, pumping his arm up.

"Don't be so childish." Yuno replied, his face slack but his voice betrayed a bit of fondness.

They glanced at each other one more time before turning back to the candles and closing their eyes, with a deep breathe, they blew. It was no surprise all the candles went out almost immediately, and everyone cheered, jostling the two 16-year-olds.

Finral laughed as he started cutting cake, plopping pieces on plates and randomly handing them out. Once everyone had some, or two, he was able to take a break from his duties and try some himself. He found a quiet corner of the room with no children and no booze, and ate a few bites.

It felt odd, not having his familiar company with him, he mused. But it wasn't so bad, the party was a success, Asta and Yuno seemed happy enough and that was what mattered. He looked down at his place and back at the sky with a grin on his face. Though, he supposed, chance encounters really were the best surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite things about Klaus: He has 0 braincells about how to deal with first aid situations and he is constantly bullied by children and TAKES it.
> 
> Also I know Langris gets better, but let's face it, but before (manga spoilers) Finral kicks his elf possessed ass, he's such a shithead all the time. Langris is literally the fucking worst before that point. Did I just want an excuse to write emotional angst? Maybe.
> 
> Fun fact, Klaus is taller than Finral by 3 cm. Do with that what you will. Also their shipname is Roulettes and I absolutely will not budge on it.


End file.
